Sitting on his haunches, his back leaning against the wall, Finn asks Mika'il a few more questions, of Sadda, of the undead that lurk farther on within the crypt, though Mika'il does not seem to have a satisfactory answer to anything.  He has not gone much farther on, but was warned off by Sadda, who had told him little when he had gone on.

In the end, Mika'il's whining proves to much for Finn, who shoves a length of rope into his mouth, tying it tightly at the back of his head before casting another spell and with the help of Magnus, lifting the apprentice off his feet and planting his fists firmly within the stone of the cave wall so that his feet hang just a few inches from the floor.  Though Mika'il is exhausted, he flails his feet and offers several muffled screams of protest, eventually planting his feet against the slanting cave floor to take the pressure of his hanging body off of his forearms as he pants in exhaustion.

It is not long before everyone is rested enough to say they are tired of his presence.

And so, hopefully one last time, the group stands and sets off with all of their equipment, leaving the apprentice there to pick up once the demon Sadda has been taken care of.  Magnus leads, followed by Finn, Gustav, Bjorn, Judoc, Terri, and Rondald, each with their weapons readied and waiting for combat.

Their movement is slow, ready for the promised undead to jump out around any corner... however, the dead they find here are entirely undisturbed.  Again there are burial niches, though here they are fewer and farther between with full skeletons lying in state, their hands just crossed over their chest.  The ubiquitous purple mushrooms that spread throughout the caves grow here in earnest, their bright, almost luminous color seeming to rub off on their every surrounding.

A few stray glances here proves there is little else to find and Magnus turns the corner, his lighted necklace shining the way ahead.

"Oh shit."  The minotaur mutters, his mace coming up in anticipation of a fight.

OOC:  It is 1000 on the 15th of May.  You guys were about an hour resting.  No one mentioned leaving anything behind, so you guys each have all your stuff in hand or on your back.  Let's do 2 rounds worth of action and I'll post a map publicly once everyone has a good idea what is going on.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:31, Thu 21 Nov 2019.

It would be unfair to say that Magnus was growing complacent now that they had captured their enemy, but he was more relaxed than he had been, that was true.

He turned the corner and saw an undulating mass of yellowed bone, rusted blade and magical glow, the combination of which seemed to nearly steal the breath from his chest.

It was very difficult not to just press back down the hallway in order to keep himself safer from the forces arrayed before them, but he had learned much in the past few months, and going on the attack would allow them to get more bodies onto the front line.

He shifted alone the wall to his left, and then lashed out at the glowing skull before him, not once, but twice, the jangle.of his mail sharp and sudden after his previous plodding pace. He raised no cry of alarm, but rather the cacaphony of his assault raised it for him.

Gustav Pushes past Finn and stands beside  Magnus, shield up, swinging at the things in front of him.
He doesn't make any special efforts at this time.

In a way, Judoc sympathizes with Mika’il. The parallels between the two are not wholly lost on the Templar student—both men students of magic, grasping for more knowledge, with bird familiars that have come to them unexpectedly. Unlike Mika’il, however, Judoc has no desire to kill to further his aims, and if the situation were reversed, Judoc is certain Mika’il would have no qualms about snuffing out Judoc’s life.

Now, fully rested, Judoc is ready to continue. Once Sadda has been destroyed and the group has decided on whether to open the cells, they can leave this forsaken prison and head someplace where Judoc can get a warm bath, a bottle of wine, and a hot meal. Maybe a nice roast pheasant, or some lamb stew, or a rack of ribs.

Judoc is daydreaming about sleeping on an actual bed for once when the others stop ahead. He readies his staff, ready to take on the next threat.

OOC: Wait.

At the rear, Rondald looks back, making sure nothing is coming from behind, or above, before moving forward to see if there is room to help, crossbow at the ready.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:11, Fri 22 Nov 2019.

Clearly Finn is a depressed man.  Not the kind of crippling depression that keeps a person bedridden often found in cripples, scorned lovers and unemployed bards, no recent events have just made the man sour and cross.  Despite his best guess work the long await capture of Mika'il has led to nothing.  Absolutely fucking nothing.  No spell book.  No hidden treasure trove.  No secrets of magical lore to be devoured by himself and Judoc like blueberry pie.

But as is his nature by the time the group is rested and ready Razzel is back to his old plucky upbeat self.  Not long after they stumble into the room described by Mika'il and while his explanation lacked detail, he captured the general sense of danger.   When he feels the elbow of the swordsman Finn happily slides to the side.


OOC:
Move to the side so that Gustav can get to the front.  Once Magnus and Gustav have formed a front row move behind them leaving 1 hex for them to retreat.  Try to spot Sadda.

Though Magnus sees a small room of horrors ahead of him - he knows there are but two simple options: charge forward to beat his foe back towards a corner, or yield ground in the hopes of stretching them thin...  Though the implications of each choice seem to form long lists of pros and cons in his head, he seems to stick on the fact that there are six other men behind him who likely can't even see the fight ahead.  Magnus knows if he were to start his retreat, there is almost no chance he would make it more than a few feet before he bumped into Finn, who would be blocked off by Bjorn...  Besides, they could always retreat later.

Lunging forward on his hooves, Magnus swats out with his mace, flinging the weapon towards the etherial skull that floats just ahead of him, it's jaw agape as it trails a phantasmic stream of blue.  But the thing is small, and the strike flies wide, cleaving instead a small gulley through the dripping trail of energy where the thing's neck should be attached, leaving the skull itself unharmed

Gustav charges forward as well, pushing his way past Finn, his broadsword flashing in hand, his small shield readied in the other.  Finn makes ready to push ahead as well, though as he moves behind the others, Bjorn pushes him aside, knocking him back against the wall as the Northman joins the front lines with the Minotaur and the Araterrean.  Finn pushes himself forward again, stepping up on his toes to see over the defensive line ahead, though he cannot make anything out apart from the several lines of bones beyond.

Ahead of him, Magnus flashes his shield upwards, swatting away one of the skulls that float in his direction, though another darts in to the side, spraying Magnus with a horrid spray, making the minotaur double back in pain as he retreats towards the side wall.  One of the things whizzes by, charging Finn who evades backwards as the skull spews forwards its horrid breath, barely missing the thief as he retreats backwards.

"Duck!"  Terri shouts from behind him, the sound of her taught bowstring singing beneath the din of clashing weapons and shields ahead.

Meanwhile, the skeletons lumber onwards, their weapons held ahead of them, readied for a fight.  One swings it's axe at Gustav, who deftly parries the blow and returns the cut, slashing the monster neatly through the spinal column, before he collapses towards the floor, unmoving...

OOC:  Ok, obviously a lot has been left unsaid here.  Those who have said they have waited, or done something other than move ahead, have staid in place (Judoc and Rondald) though now they should be well aware of the battle raging ahead.  Magnus made a few defenses, though missed one against one of the little skull heads, and took a bit of damage as the thing sprayed him in the face with some sort of toxic gas.  All of the front line (Gustav, Bjorn, Magnus) are facing down, as is Finn.  The skull behind the front line is facing towards Finn, its mouth agape and smoking.  The three skeletons south of the front lines all have weapons.  A has an axe (although he was cut in twain by Gustav and is down, sorry for missing that), S has a rusted Broadsword, and C has a length of chain with shortstaffs on either end.  The other skeletons seem to have weapons as well, though it is hard to focus on anything other than the immediate threat.

Lets do two more rounds of action.


The Floating Skull
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:20, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Seeing nothing behind them, Rondald moves forward, looking for a chance to help...
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:29, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Judoc steps forward, staff at the ready. The tight confines of the tunnel constrict his options, but from the sounds ahead, the caves are simply filled with the undead. Mika’il has said even he could not get through, though the necromancer may have been lying in order to trick the group into doing his heavy lifting for him.

OOC: Move forward, although do not push or crowd the people in front of him. Attack when possible.

With his opponent down, Gustav swings at the floating head, keeping his shield handy to block any miasma it might project his way.

True to his persona Finn is more mesmerized by the weird and strange sights before him.  People slaved to manual labor, too afraid to risk danger for fame and fortune, rob themselves of the hidden splendors that this world has to offer.  For years to come Razzel can regale common rooms full of half drunk patrons with this story and a handful of others from this adventure alone.

Finn dances around dodging this way and that, trying to craft his spell work to aid in fighting this glowing menace.  But the distraction proves too great and the happy go lucky thief mage only finds frustration.

The fur along Magnus's left shoulder sizzled and withered under whatever the skull had sprayed upon Magnus, and the Minotaur grimaced hard as it ate away at the flesh beneath with a vomit inducing smell.

More frantically now he swung overhand again and again in an attempt to cave in the ominous animated deaths head, all too conscious of the unthinking corpses steadily hemming them in.

Hemmed in near the entrance of the room and fighting shoulder to shoulder, Magnus, Bjorn, and Gustav hack away at their foes, though they seem to make little progress, at least at first.  Magnus swings his massive mace at the bobbing skull though the quick movement and the small size of the foe makes the target exceedingly hard to hit.  Gustav too, swings his sword and cannot connect, finding himself immediately on the defensive and pulling his shield in front of his face to protect against the toxic spray of the undead.

Bjorn is the first one to make a hit, smashing through the chain-wielding skeleton in a single blow and stepping forward, his shield raised against the onslaught of raised weapons.  Magnus too, manages to hit his opponent finally, a blow that shatters the thing mid-air and sends it tumbling to the ground below, the blue etherial flicker snuffed out.

The other blue skulls however, seem ill content to stay on the front lines and float on, one over Magnus's shoulder, and another over Gustav as they make their way back towards Finn, who seems to be having a terrible time of casting his spells.  Barely conscious of anything but the floating bit of undeath before him, Finn cannot seem to keep his concentration together, failing on both his first spell and on his attempt to get out of the way of the blast as the thing shoots out its smog of horror, hitting Finn about the facemask and causing him to bluster and cough as the poison sets into his face.

Twang!  "Shit!"  Terri squeaks as her arrow fires off, giving Finn a small moment of panic (for he never did duck as she asked) though luckily the arrow buzzes just over his left shoulder, missing the floating skull and Gustav behind before it chips off a bit of shoulder on one of the skeletons standing near the end of the line on it's way downhill.  The sound is masked however, by Bjorn slashing through yet another of the skeletons, rending off both an arm and a leg with the same swing and leaving the thing useless.

Judoc and Rondald run up behind, seeing the skull jump over Finn's shoulder and move beyond.  Judoc takes a swing with his staff though he proves to have much the same problems of the two at the front of the room...

With all of the din of the combat and the necklace lights flying willy-nilly, at first it is difficult to make out the change standing at the back of the room ahead.  After all, there is bone everywhere both dead and undead, not to mention the horrid, floating skulls dancing from floor to ceiling.  But never the less, the change comes.  Only after a moment, do the three at the front become aware of it, the nine foot tall conglomeration of bone wielding an onyx black sword and a tower shield.  It is no skeleton, but the amalgamation of them, with twenty or more skulls glaring out at them from shoulder blades, kneecaps, between ribs, not to mention the four or five which seem to combine to make a massive collarbone on which the real skull sits upon.  It glares through hollow eyes for a moment before starting forward to the fray...



OOC:  Ok, edits to the map again.  Apologies, I didn't realize until after saving it that Magnus's last blow was in fact a hit and shattered his blue skull, so that one is dead and that sort of half-space is vacant.  Weapons in the front lines are as follows: Spear, Axe, Mace, Staff.  Please note that the blue skulls are the size of a skull, and are thusly privy to a SM that is less than 0.  Bjorn has taken out the Chain and Sword wielders, though two more with swords and shields have come in through the back room in front of the Bone Sovereign.

Let's do another two rounds of action.

Gustav swings at S, planning to dispatch it and then go for A.
He keeps his Shield ready to block any attacks.

           Made by 3

As a teen Finn Razzel spent copious amounts of free time in tavern rooms and beer halls swapping stories with all manner of folk.  Woodsmen, caravan guards, adventurers, merchants and anyone else with a reasonable tale from some far off and remote place.  Finn has an eye for spotting bullshit and he's heard some tall tales over the years.  Good bullshitters have a knack for finding the right balance.  For instance, tell a story about fighting a dragon and people instantly know you're full of it.  Tell a tale about fighting a lone rampaging barbarian and you'll bore you're crowd.  But tell a tale about you saw a dragon and hid from it to live and tell the tale, now that has the right balance between impossible and believable.  Very very unlikely, but believable.

When the monstrosity appears a cold chill runs up and down his spine.  Certainly the man is afraid.  He's faced some tough odds in his time but nothing like this.  An actual daemon.  He's heard stories spun over a nights worth of drinking and lying, but he's never once believed the tales.  And now in this moment mixed in with real fear for his own life and that of his friends, is the thought that, when he tells this tale in the coming years, who will believe him?


OOC:
Round 1:  Shit my pants
Round 2:  Cry like a little girl

Kidding.  Real actions are in PM

From the sounds of battle ahead, Judoc wonders just how many undead are arrayed against them. It sounds like a miniature army. Perdition is aptly named if it holds so many of the dead within its catacombs.

Grunting as his swipe misses the skull, Judoc reminds himself to spend more time training with his staff. Thus far, he has focused primarily on his magical studies, and he has observed numerous times how handy it is to have some martial prowess as well. He knows he will need to prioritize this training, as enamored as he usually is in his spellbooks.

"I ain't afraid of no skull," Judoc says as he cockily steps forward, pointing his staff out in front of him at the skull and concentrating.

OOC: Concentrate.

Magnus worked to keep should to shoulder with Bjorn as they steadily pressed the assault. The man could fight, that much was clear, and as Magnus cocked back the mace and lumbered forward  he could make out the dim outlines of something larger and more menacing at the back of the line.

"Something's coming!" He yelled above din of armor and the clacking of their ossified opponents. Technically they were surrounded  by somethings, things that should not be, the remains of those long passed on brought into desecrated service to their enemies. Any one of them could kill with the thrust of a rusty spear.

But this something, this raised Magnus's hackles with the mere shifting of a distant outline.

Though the chamber of the dead is small, the many moving denizens of the undead compound the problem.  Their vacant eye sockets gaping wide as their jaws hang akimbo, reveling in the chaos and bedlam.

Still, our heroes press the fight forward, especially Magnus, who steps up to fill the gap next to Bjorn.  Immediately, the minotaur finds himself squaring off against one of the monsters, equipped with a quarterstaff that is already swinging his direction!  Without missing a beat however, Magnus catches the blow across the rim of his shield, returning the hit with one of his own mace which is quickly batted to the side...  In another moment however, the two are attacking the other again, this time with each scoring a hit, Magnus taking a bruising blow across his chain armor on his chest.  However, it is the skeleton that seems to get the far worse end of the deal, the studded shattering ribs and vertebrae, silencing the unlife in a moment as the staff and the bone both fall to the ground, unmoving.

Bjorn too, manages to get in a hit, cutting off the mace arm of the skeleton to his left before diverting his attention to the axe wielder who neatly dodges the Northman's axe.  Bjorn's shield flashes this way and that, catching blow after blow off the rim, though it splinters and nearly buckles as the axe wielder makes an attack of its own.

Gustav too, seems to be getting in his own licks, slashing a neat gash across the shoulder of the spear wielding skeleton.  The monster's return attack is sloppy, easily batted aside, though perhaps the attack makes the swordsman overconfident...  for he had forgotten entirely about the small little floating skull which had just previously danced past and above him without retort.  It is therefore somewhat of a surprise as Gustav feels the spray of toxic foulness spreading over the back of his head and neck.  It almost enough to take the swordsman's head out of the fight, though the flash of steel brings him quickly back...  He swats his shield out from the side, barely catching the blade of a two-handed axe off the face, his own head spinning from the quick succession.  He does not stay stunned for long however, slashing out his own sword again and severing neatly the leg of the spear-wielder in front of him which crashes to the floor though still holds onto its weapon...

Meanwhile, Finn finally makes good with his spellwork, casting his protective enchantment as he simultaneously dips below the toxic blast of the skull ahead of him.  Smirking with his own luck, Finn lashes out with his longknife, though his aim is bad, missing the skull badly though it seems to be enough to force the foe off his own attack, sending its spray high and off the mark.

Judoc meanwhile with a whispered word has cast his own spell, which spouts a jet of flame as long as a man's body from the tip of his staff.  Judoc cuts the weapon through the air neatly, bisecting the skull which explodes in flames for the moment as it stops midiar just long enough for Judoc to cut his weapon back, deliberately jabbing the jet of flame straight through the undead and bursting the skull in fragments as the floating undead simply ceases to exist...

"Shit!"  Rondald shouts from just behind, his aim on the floating skull foiled.  Instead of firing he charges forward and around the corner, searching for a better shot for his weapon.

Towards the back of the fight, the two lieutenants of bone press towards the edges of the fight, flanking their master who follows from behind.  The last and greatest of them though, the menagerie of bone standing 9 feet high, is a wonder that even the most experienced of men must stop to behold.

As the thing approaches the front, its massive size crowding out the other, smaller skeletons it seems not to shove it's way through, but to actually absorb those undead that are in it's way.  In a moment, two skeletons, bone, sinew, club and all are merely no longer there, their pieces and parts sucked up against the stack of moving bone with it's dozens of heads...  Now a mere step from the front, it raises its shield, the black sword borne back for attack...

OOC:  Map posted below.  Judoc killed a skull, Magnus killed a skeleton, Gustav crippled (and it'll probably soon fail an HT roll) a skeleton, and Bjorn crippled a skeleton as well.  No significant damage to the good guys yet...  Please remember through that retreating can help your defenses (if you have room to retreat) as can feverish defenses (which add +2 but cost 1 fatigue).  We are cutting the defense rolls pretty fine in a few cases.

Let's do another two seconds of action.

For the Map, S is the spear wielder (prone), A is axe, M is mace (crippled), MS is morning-star (no attacks yet), SS is sword and shield, BA is battle axe (two handed axe).

Rondald is frustrated by being out of the action. His crossbow is unlikely to be effective against bone, so he changes it out for his axe and  moves past Terri, and past Finn as well if he can, getting to a position to swat one of these skulls out of the air...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:17, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

Gustav swings to remove the spear as a threat, then steps back as he seeks to disarm (literally) the Battle Axe wielding skeleton. He notes the large monster coming but has to finish this business first.

Finn remembers a favorite saying of one of his mentors.  A teacher when the man was young and learning the ropes of being a mercenary and street thug.  'A hero bends but he does not break'.  Finn has always taken this to mean that men who stand up, who courageously fight against all odds, they will miss the mark from time to time but they always defeat their foe.  Military strategists prefer the expression 'Lose the battle but win the war'.  And so it goes for the plucky mage-thief, just when he needs it most his spell craft works like the flawlessness of a...thing that is perfect.  Some might say its down to luck.  Random chance.  But they are just sore losers.  Razzel understands it is grit.  It is gumption.  Some fire inside a man swells and pushes back against tyranny, and wins out.  Finns own magnificent skill and talent have once again carried him onward to victory.

He moves to dance back and is surprised to himself bumping into a body.  Had they not listened to him?  Had they not been paying attention when he repeatedly drilled them on the merits of leaving space?  In any fight a person needs room to duck and weave.  With a growl Finn barks, ”Back up damn you!!”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Tue 03 Dec 2019.

Finally, Judoc has an opportunity to do what he does best, roasting the undead with a burst of flame. Once the skull has been eliminated, he swivels his head to identify the next target, but everything else seems to be down the tunnel. He can hear sounds of battle around the corner, but as yet, he has no line of sight on the action. With Rondad and Terri ahead, Judoc has no choice but to wait for his chance to strike.

When Finn yells out his command, Judoc takes a step backward.

OOC: Take a step back. Wait.

Magnus's big black eyes went wide as the towering bone assemblage moved steadily forward. Whatever it was doing, it was not a good thing, and Magnus circled in an effort to keep the thing squarely in front of him while he engaged the skeletons between them.

The mace in many ways was an ideal weapon against these things, with no blood or organs or spill, the blunt force of the ancient weapon was brought to bear in the hands of the Minotaur once more.

"Well then MOVE!"  Terri barks from behind Finn, a response that the thief had not been expecting after his quite clear command...  Still the woman whizzes by his left shoulder, leaving the way behind him open - which was enough for the thief who dips out of the way of another small blast of toxic blue before slashing out his own weapon, scoring a neat slash across the skull's forehead, causing the thing to spin away off course...

Towards the front, the three fighters hack and slash their way through the skeletons, downing the foes one at a time as their foes continue to press the fight.

Gustav slashes his sword down on his closest foe, the spear wielder, who still lays upon the ground, it's leg severed wholly from it's body.  The sword smashes into bone, shattering bits of pelvis and femur, and the thing lays still where it was struck completely still, though Gustav begins to doubt that it was moving even before the thing was struck.

Behind the other, the battle axe slashes out again, this time narrowly missing the swordsman as he pulls himself back to the en guard position.

Towards the other side of the fight, Magnus takes the mass of the morning star off the face of his shield, the wood splintering and buckling beneath the weight of the blow.  Still, the wood holds and Magnus returns the blow, whipping his mace wildly towards his skeletal foe.  But the abomination moves too quickly taking the minotaur off balance, and Magnus's mace goes far too long, smashing into the wall behind and sending painful reverberations up his arm.

Bjorn too slashes his axe towards the fray, cracking deeply into the axe wielder, rebounding the return blow off the face of his shield.

From behind, the monstrous skeleton steps ahead again, walking into the axe wielder as this one too seems to be absorbed into the mass of bone, ceasing to exist on its own but becoming part of the whole, giant monster.  The thing slashes outward towards the Northman with its savage black sword, cutting a savage rent in Bjorn's shield, though he steps forward again, cracking his own axe into one armed skeleton who had held the mace, cutting through vertebrae and ribs and sending the thing clattering to the floor.

Magnus too, recovering from his misstep swings his mace again, this time connecting with a solid hit that shatters his closest foe into a thousand pieces!    Stepping forward into the empty space, Magnus finds himself confronted again with another of the things, this one with a thick roundshield and broadsword.

"Shit!"  Terri shrieks from behind the others, the toxic spray of the tiny blue skull blasted into her face as she throws her arms in front of her in defense...

OOC:  Something like 49 dice rolls on those last two turns...  I probably didn't describe it all well enough, but it's good enough to get the drift.  Everything is properly noted on everyone's character sheet.  Spear, Mace, Morningstar, and Axe are no longer (axe being absorbed into the giant skeleton), though there is still the battle axe, and the two sword and shield skeletons to deal with.  For now, Bjorn seems to be facing off with the behemoth...  Finn scored a moderate hit against his skull, then missed on the next attack, Terri also scored a light hit against hers, though it seems like she now has her hands full.  Bjorn was caught up next to Finn and attacked the blue skull there on the previous turn (which was defended against).  So far, so good.

Lets do another two rounds of action.

Rondald swats at the skull now in front of him, taking care not to risk hitting Terri. Perhaps too much...
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:39, Fri 06 Dec 2019.

Gustav steps to his Right Front and engages the Battle Axe armed skeleton, Then finishes him [or attacks SS facing Bjorn if BA falls away] backing a step to the right on defense the last time.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:02, Mon 09 Dec 2019.

It really was like a nightmare.

Magnus felt the a throbbing ache in his arm through the adrenaline haze, and although he was not tired physically despite his exertions, mentally he was being taxed dearly. Even the subtle thrum of success as he and Bjorn pushed on through the desecrated bodies could not keep doubt form his mind. They were so close, so very close to going home, and now what if this is where they starting losing people? Losing friends?

With two foes before him, Magnus fell back a step to focus his attention upon the one with the shield. The last thing he needed was to be run through the back while he was attempting to tackle the gigantic monstrosity dominating the center of the chamber.

There he swung, again and again trying to batter through the defenses of the corpse so that he could in theory turn on the remaining construct in a flanking maneuver.

In the mean streets of Azer where Finn grew up and cut his teeth there seemed little use for a huge behemoth of a weapon.  Great broad swords as long as a man or enormous double headed battle axes as large as a small tree were frowned upon generally by the local constabulary.  Not to mention hiding such an instrument of destruction under ones cloak or down ones trousers wasn't practical.

But here in the field his favorite weapon, the long knife, seems as impotent as a drunkened grandfather sleeping 'it' off.  Still Razzel is rarely taken over by doubt.  He is just too damned good to wallow in self pity for very long.  So hacking and slashing with all his might he lashes out for all he's worth.

Now that Judoc has advanced around the bend a bit, he can see the massive undead creature on the far side of the sea of skeletons, and the sight makes him gasp. No wonder Mika'il's courage failed in trying to move beyond this cavern. What twisted philosophy had made the elves leave such a monstrosity here?

But Judoc has little time for considering the wardens' reasoning for such a terror. Instead, he concentrates on another spell casting.

OOC: Concentrate.

The battle rages on with steel flashing in all directions, sweat flies from foreheads, though so far no blood has been spilt or damage done apart from the floating blue horrors which still seem to wreak havoc behind the lines of the other fighters.

One flashes its own blue toxins towards Rondald, the sailor finally making his presence known in the fight as he trades out his crossbow, letting it sling back towards his side, for his axe.  The blue gas goes high however as the sailor ducks, lashing back with his own weapon, though the hit is wide.  Finn too takes makes an attempt with his knife, though the thing moves too quickly to get in a reasonable hit...

Back and forth the skull and men fight, Judoc flashing another fiery spell from his staff which misses the floating skull, instead splitting the two men, singing their beards which begin to stink with pungent burn.  The skull seems unperturbed, spraying out again at the sailor who just barely manages to get out of the way as Finn lashes his knife again...  The skull spirals upwards, neatly avoiding the blow.  Rondald retaliates as well, though his axe nearly slips from his hand...luckily though Rondald redoubles his grip, curbing the weapon straight into the center mass of the skull, which shatters upon impact, spraying skull fragments through the air and against the wall...

Terri, meanwhile ducks and dives this way and that, the blue toxic spray flying everywhere around her as she can't seem to make a blow land with her own weapon...

towards the far end of the room though, things seem to be going better, Gustav steps forward, placing the skeleton with the shield between himself and the monstrous undead, his sword licking outward in an impressive blow that cuts the skeleton with the two-handed axe viciously across the rib cage, sending the thing's blow wide as it collapses into a heap of bone.

Magnus squares off with one of the skeletons, stepping neatly to his right as he turns himself, smashing his mace outward, though the blow catches off the thing's shield even as Magnus catches the return sword hit off his own.

It is Bjorn however, who seems to be having the worst time of things.  Now toe to toe with the massive column of bone, the Northman swats outwards with his axe, which is neatly caught and blown aside by the massive tower shield.  The thing returns the blow, it's black sword smashing through the edge boards of Bjorn's shield, melting through the steel rim and cauterizing the planks where the section is cut away.  Again the thing swings out towards the Northman, who this time manages to catch the blow and knock it aside, his eyes burning as he flings his axe in a wide sidearm, not at the Bone King but at the other skeleton who is still squaring off with Gustav!

His axe bites deeply into the thing's back, catching it off balance and making it stumble forward...  Gustav watches as the skeleton's shield drops and cuts in with his own blade, slashing deeply through it's shoulder and collarbone, but the thing stumbles on!

Magnus too, his body turned against his skeletal foe catches a blade off his shield, which makes a shallow cut across the face.  The minotaur returns the blow, this one going just underneath the monster's guard and smashing through bone, shattering pelvis and backbone!  The abomination flails as it clatters to the ground, bits of shattered bone splashing back against the cave wall.

OOC:  Everyone please make a roll vs. HT (plus normal Fit/Very fit bonuses) or lose 1 FP.

Lots of good luck on your side that time, Rondald killing the skull spirit as Gustav and Magnus both smashed up a skeleton.  The last one also seems to be heavily damaged, though still fighting.  Other notes:  Magnus is facing NE, Terri Facing SE, Bjorn facing S.

One round of action this time.

While its difficult if not impossible to see through the crowd ahead Finn does get a sense of what is transpiring.  As his friends shift forward, surge back and forth, he sees less and less of a sea of white bones and blue skulls.  In practically no time the band of oddities is facing down the monster built out of spare parts.  Razzel is so sure of their victory, after all their others, that his mind drifts to days and months from now.  He wonders where his path will take him.  Will he in truth discover that Mika'il is lying, and that the dastardly bastard does have spell books hidden somewhere?  And what treasure will Finn carry home from this place?  It is a sort of bank after all.

Gustav Moves to his Right and swings to finish off the Skeleton SS, but it doesn't work as planned.

Where did Sadda get to? Judoc wonders. The demon blackbird has yet to show its face, and with Mika'il taken off the board, Sadda is the only real threat remaining in this place.

Up ahead, the passage ahead is still choked with people, and so Judoc waits for his chance to strike.

OOC: Wait.

In reply to Judoc the Merciful (msg # 33):

Rondald looks briefly at the other skull and swing his axe up at it with equal accuracy. His training has taught him to focus on the now, so he concentrates on removing the abberation.

Even those stuck towards the far end of the hallway are aware of that the room chalked full of skeletal undeath has slowly been hewn down, the dry bones cut away one at a time as slowly but surely, the massive behemoth is one of the two remaining foes, and soon to be the only...

Gustav fences back and forth with the last remaining of the smaller skeletons, swiping his sword at the thing though his blow goes wide, clanging off the edge of the monster's shield as it knocks the weapon away.  The thing strikes back, a brutal blow which swipes just below Gustav's small shield cutting neatly through the links of his light scale armor.  The wound bleeds bright red which splatters and trickles down the bright scales, causing Gustav to falter back, the black holes of the skeleton's eyes staring death at the swordsman as it raises it's weapon again...  Though Gustav has no need to fear, for the thing shatters into a million pieces before it can attack again, Bjorn's axe cleaving through shoulder, spine, and hip - leaving the thing lifeless and scattered across the ground.

In the tunnel where the group had entered, four of our heroes still battle the one single floating skull still eluding them.  Rondald swings his axe, and Terri too with her knife, though both attack land wide as the floating aberration spins and bobs upwards and forwards, blasting Rondald in the face with the toxic gas that burns his face and eyes, tearing at his throat as the sailor struggles to breathe.  As the skull dodges ahead, Finn and Judoc swing their weapons too, Finn's knife missing wide as well as the blasted jet of fire from the wizard's staff, the skull still bobbing happily, it's mouth akimbo as if in silent laughter.

Magnus, his only foe now the skeletal monster in front of him, lashes out with his mace at the monster's right flank.  The thing's sword comes in to cut away the blow, though the defense is not in time and the mace strikes true, though just barely does the mace strike against the hip of the Bone Sovereign.  And indeed, for a moment, Magnus is curious if he hit the thing at all, for the bones in the monster are already moving, shifting, swarming about and around his mace, spewing outward....

Both Magnus and Bjorn jump back, thinking the change some sort of infernal attack, though instead the bones congeal and form together, creating six new skeletons to deal with!

To make matters worse, from the far room flapping wings echo and the form of Sadda appears, his massive crow-like form appearing just above head hight as he takes the corner at full flying speed, his eyes glowing with red hate.

OOC:  Thanks for the patience for this post guys.  I'm hoping to be on a normal schedule from here on out.

Neither Ron nor Magnus rolled on the required HT roll so I rolled for them, and both failed so they lost 1 FP.  Gustav took a moderate cut to the torso and Rondald took a light toxic blow to the face and both are at a shock penalty for the next turn (unless you have High Pain Threshold).  The Mutant Skeleton seemed to spawn 6 new skeletons on this turn rather than attacking, some of which are armed with clubs, and one with an axe, though most of them are unarmed.  Terri is facing up on the map, as is Magnus.  No one has seemed to manage a hit on the last floating skull, which is simply bobbing up and down in a halo of blue light as it blasts it's toxic breath all over the place.

Let's do two rounds of action this time.

Gustav Moves to his Right (Left and down as you look at the map, away from Terri).
He takes all out defense for the first move, then lashes out at the unarmed Skeleton in front of him.

The flying skull is beginning to be annoying, and Judoc growls as he tries again to kill the thing.  The gigantic skeletal undead in the chamber looms from beyond, and—is that Sadda, coming at last to join the fray? But Judoc cannot spare much more than a thought for these other enemies. First, he must destroy this floating unholy terror.

OOC: Concentrate.

In reply to Judoc the Merciful (msg # 37):

Frustrated, Rondald swings half-heartedly at the skill again, but it is really more to keep it distracted while he tries to recover. Of a second to recover, though, he swings much more accurately...focused on the thing in front of him and trying to ignore the pain it inflicted.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:24, Mon 16 Dec 2019.

While its difficult to see through the mass of shifting bodies and arms Razzel is vaguely aware that more skeletons have entered the fray.  He is growing more frustrated, at his own failure to render the floating skull void and being stuck so long in the damned hallway.

Inside the room, the battle rages, but in the small corridor leading away, Judoc, Finn, Rondald and Terri are all simultaneously engaged with the single, bobbing blue skull that seems to laugh as it sprays out its toxic rage, missing Finn by the narrowest of margins.  All four lash out at the thing, each hit missing by the scantest of margins as the jaw of the tiny monster cranes up and down in slow hilarity...

Unfortunately, Terri and Rondald, who had been facing the other direction, seem not to notice the new host of skeletons that were unleashed just at their back.  Rondald is lucky, his unarmed foe merely gripping at his sweat slicked armor, a grapple which slips away as the sailor turns his body, lashing out another blow at the floating blue skull, one that finally connects, ending the thing finally as it blasts into a thousand pieces...  Terri however, is not so lucky.

Crack! "Aiiiieeee!"

Terri screams as she stumbles forward, her knife sailing out of her hand as she crashes to her knees, her right arm cradled against her chest in pain!

Thinking to step between the foe and her, Rondald pushes his body to the side, though his movement is somewhat slowed as the skeleton behind him grabs again, this time managing a two handed grab around the sailor's shoulders and crossbow strap.  The thought seems to work, at least somewhat however, for as the club swings next it is coming at him instead of his wife!  Encumbered far more than he is used to, Rondald's defenses are slow and he takes the club straight in the chest, a blow which crackles against chain links and bone!

Finn steps forward, thinking to heal Rondald's wife with a simple touch, though the spell fizzles on his fingers!

Deeper within, Gustav dips to the right, his shield swatting away the clutching fingers of his own foe.  The thing lunges again, and this time Gustav manages to cut a light blow across the thing's ribs which crackle with the force!

Bjorn, facing the worst of the lot as well as another of the vile things, picks the lesser of the two foes, swinging his deadly axe with murderous precision, cleaving the foes arm clean from his body even as he stumbles forward, clutching the Northman's body.  Once, Bjorn manages to swat away the deadly black sword of the Bone Sovereign, but as he attempts to shuck off the grip of the one handed skeleton, he stumbles, his shield swinging out wide for balance...  The sword cuts down again, this time slashing Bjorn cleanly through his mail shirt!  Blood spurts high as Bjorn stumbles backwards crashing into the wall of the cave, his breaths coming in great ragged gasps!

Indeed, Magnus is the only one who seems to be holding his own in this fight, for his mace crashes into the skeleton with the axe to his right, annihilating the thing in a single blow even as he bashes aside his other foe's feeble attempt at a grab.  Magnus returns his next attack to the other side, destroying the skeleton with the club into a pile of fragments and dust.

But before Magnus can think to attack again on the massive bone conglomeration before him, the thing turns his direction, the massive kite shield hiding the majority of its body...

From behind, Sadda swoops down, clawing at Gustav as the swordsman steps back from his other foe.  But the Islander is ready and manages to get his sword in the deamon's way, managing a small cut in the demon bird's thick hide.

OOC:  Not nearly as good of a round for you guys that time.  Rondald is now facing SW as is grappled over his shoulder by the skeleton that is directly S of him (really in close combat).  Terri has dropped her weapon and has a crippled right arm, at least for the rest of the combat.  Finn, you can step over her if you want to (to fight the skeleton plaguing Rondald and her) though you lose the ability to retreat on your defense with that movement.  Bjorn suffered a major blow to the torso, which knocked him off his feet, although he still seems to be conscious.  Magnus took out two more skeletons which Bjorn crippled another and Gustav managed a minor injury on a third.  Let's do another two rounds of action.

Rondald swore as he releases his grip on the axe, the lanyard the only thing stopping it from hitting the ground, as he latches on to the skeleton holding him moving in such a way as to put the offending skeleton between him and the flying club.

Finn cringes as he hears an audible crack and then a scream.  This is followed almost instantly by Bjorn stumbling backwards as blood begins spraying from his chest.  Razzel knows the northman needs help.  He and the Minotaur have been the rock which everything has been resting upon.  He isnt sure how many more blows are needed but the plucky mercenary doesn't want to take unnecessary risks.

Finn hops over the woman and yells behind him.  ”Judoc.  Help her.”


OOC: Step over Terri to work on the skeleton.  As soon as I can use Retreating defense.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:24, Tue 17 Dec 2019.

"Somebody killed that damn skull!" Judoc snarls, his anger rising as the thing's acid hits his skin, sending a stinging sensation through his body. How hard could it be to hit a stupid flying skull? The next second, Rondald shatters the thing, and Judoc is free to focus on the rest of the fight.

And then both Terri and Bjorn fall back, injured far more seriously. Gritting his teeth, Judoc stretches out his staff again to touch Terri and whispers words of power.

OOC: Stretch out staff to touch Terri. Concentrate.

Gustav uses his shield to keep the Skeleton at bay while he hacks away at it   [assuming Sadda has moved away, per the map, if not, first swing is at him].

Despite his size, and the inherent benefits of his unusual heritage, Magnus had also endeavored to remain realistic about his capabilities.

It this way he was sometimes completely at odds with Finn's unflappable confidence in everything he set out upon, and in some ways Magnus could be called overly self critical.

Cautious to the point of hesitation.

There had been hard one lessons in his youth regarding numbers. Humans always had more, and just like any people they tended to get more aggressive in groups. There were never more Minotaurs, only his parents. Until he had met his friends it had been him. Just him.

He retreated, deliberately, but he gave ground before the ossified giant to both save his own skin and to give his friends room to work. He lashed out with bestial strength, but only against the lesser skeletons, trying to regain the advantage of numbers.

Terri, her right arm broken and cradled by her left, crawls back up the passage on her knees as Finn hops over, his knife slashing out twice at the skeleton with the club who is even now swinging his stick at Rondald, completely unaware of the thief approaching.  Twice the knife strikes, slashing twin scratches across the surface of the bone, doing just enough damage to knock the monster's own swing off course, missing Rondald by the smallest of margins.

Judoc steps forward too, reaching down with his staff as he channels his mana into healing Terri, and though the spell is successful, it seems to do little for the huddled limb as Terri continues to retreat.

The sailor meanwhile, struggles with a skeleton of his own, which grapples Rondald still by shoulder and crossbow strap.  It lurches in, broken teeth exposed, trying to bite the open skin at Rondald's face, though somehow he manages to shirk his shoulder across the monster's chin, keeping it from doing any harm.  Rondald reaches in for a grip of his own, trying to manhandle the thing into some semblance of a shield, though it takes him a moment to get a solid grip on the monster's clavicle, his chest still heaving from the bruising strike he took a moment ago.

Gustav too, rushes back and forth, scoring another small cut as he knocks away the clumsy grip of the monster.  Though the wound is not bad, Gustav knows sooner or later the thing must fall from the combination of its injuries.

Magnus seems to have the worst of the fight, having drawn the attention of the massive conglomeration of bone.  The thing's sword lashes out, cutting deeply into the wood of Magnus's shield, notching one of the planks so forcefully that it cleanly severs one of the center planks.  He sidesteps to the right, his shield raised to his left shoulder as he swings his mace down hard on the skeleton that has clutched on to the Northman.  The thing splinters and cracks, crashing to the floor, the dim light in its eyes extinguished in a moment.

Again, the sword whips around, just barely catching Magnus's as he raises it into place, buckling and splintering the supports as the aegis seems to hold on by thinnest strands of bending wood.  Unsure what else to attack for the moment, Magnus lashes out at the giant with his own mace, though the massive tower shield crashes down on the head, knocking the blow astray.

It is just enough however, to distract the monster from Bjorn, who is now on his feet again, the links of his mail still darkened with blood, his axe thrashing down in a swing that catches the monster in the area around it's hip.  Bone cracks and splinters, though it does not seem to be nearly enough to slow the monster down.

OOC:  Rondald is still grappled by his skeleton, though how he has a hold on it as well with his left hand.  Finn managed a couple of small slashes on the skeleton with the club, who now seems to be targeting Finn rather than Rondald, with each of you defending the other on the last turn.  Bjorn is back on his feet, though he seems pale and slow, and is in danger of passing out at any moment.  Gustav managed another small cut on his skeleton, the combined wounds seeming to slowly take a toll.  Judoc did manage to heal Terri, though it seems to have done little for her arm, which she still cradles in her left arm.

Overhead, Sadda circles the cave, his claws cocked forward as if ready to dive...

Let's do 2 more rounds.


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:12, Mon 23 Dec 2019.

Gustav, feels this skeleton is just an obstruction and puts his weight behind the next blow...



He then tries to get to Sadda, stepping closer and swinging over hand.

Most who know Finn have never seen him handle anything but a large hunting knife.  Its the perfect weapon for the mean streets which a conman and thief lives in.  Sneaking around the town with a broadsword under one's coat isn't easy and bad on one's health if caught by the watch.  Where stealth and guile are king a knife is a mans best friend.  But truth be told Razzel is handy with a few other weapons, chief among them a mace.  When the prize was revealed from the tube found in the belly of the beast Finn had thoughts of keeping it for himself.  But that idea lasted about as long as a fart in a whirlwind.  When Rondald and later Magnus volunteered to swing that beat stick Razzel knew it was in the right hands.  Never has that feeling been more true as the thief-mage scrapes and pokes at his foe, rather feebly, while the hugely muscled man-bull wreaks havoc on everything in his wake.

Using ones enemies against each other was always a favorite trick, but this was more literal than usual Rondald grabbed the Skeleton and swung it with all his might at the one wielding the club.

Amidst the steady flow of adrenaline and the nervous trembling in his thick limbs, Magnus experienced what could be called "Deja Vu", or perhaps if one was being generous, an epiphany.

Twice before, he had been here. Not "here" here, but it had been twice now that that thing, the big bird, it's name escaped him at the moment, had been watching them in some fashion as they had all struggled for their lives.

It was a tremendous act of will to do anything but focus singularly upon the nightmarish amalgamation before him, but unlike the predatory apes the rest of the group was descended from, his ancestors had been prey, and his eyes were larger and situated on the sides of his head, all the better to detect predators lurking in the periphery.

He saw the bird, and in flash he had made the decision. If they did defeat this thing, the bird would run, and the chase would begin anew. Not this time. Not if he had anything to say about it.

Suddenly Magnus lept back and to his left, his intention to seal off the small chamber. If it wanted to get out, it had to go through the group, or it had to go through him. And while he trusted Bjorn to fight to the bitter end, part of him wondered about the potential of ending this fight not by shattering the lumbering tower of bone, but by beating the life out of the one who had orchestrated it.

At first when Judoc had resolved to become a mage in the Megalan army, he had thought the best use of his time was in learning offensive magic, and he had devoted himself to all the different fire spells he could learn. However, here, in his time spent working with his current companions, he has realized that perhaps offensive magic is not the main focus of a combat mage. He still highly valued his fire spells, of course, but the ability to heal a wounded comrade is a huge boon in a battle, he realizes, and where a sword may accomplish what a fireball can, only magical items or rest can replicate a healing spell’s effects.

With a touch of his staff and a few murmured words, he heals Terri somewhat, though it will take a different spell to heal her arm. Next is Bjorn, but between Judoc and the Northman are far too many enemies.

”Hold on, Bjorn! I’ll get to you!” Judoc yells, though he is not quite sure how he is going to accomplish this.

OOC: Try to move toward Bjorn.

Back and forth the stalemate churns, Bjorn's darkened blood slowly curling over the links of his mail shirt.  Somehow, the barbarian fights on though, his shield gripped in his hand as he slashes at the bone monster's flank, though somehow the thing's shield catches the blow, sending the axe harmlessly to the side.

Magnus stumbles backwards and to the side, thinking to block off the rear entrance of the cave, swatting downward hard on the black sword as it flicks outwards with another devastating blow.  This time the shield catches the flat of the blade, causing the loose panels to shudder somewhat though it does not seem to cause any further damage.

Meanwhile, back and forth, Gustav and his own skeleton fight.  Tired of the standoff, Gustav throws his defenses to luck, putting everything he has into his next blow!  However, the skeleton dodges nimbly to the side, reaching with both arms to grasp his arms around the swordsman... only by luck does Gustav avoid it, the arms gripping just inches away from his chest as the swordsman steps to the side, swinging his blade again in an attempt to finally make the thing die.  And finally the swordsman connects with force!  His blade crashes through lower vertebrae and hip, collapsing the monster mid-step as Gustav swats away the the thing midfall with the edge of his shield.

Finn, however, seems to be having much worse luck...  He strikes out with his knife, the but the blow is badly errant, missing his moving mark by nearly a foot.  He managed to dodge away from the return attack, though only at the last minute does he notice Sadda, the demon bird diving at screeching speeds in his direction!  Finn swivels his head as the thing flies past, it's ragged claws rustling the whiskers of Finn's beard.

Rondald too, makes his effort to turn the tide.  His skeleton lurches in towards his face, it's broken and horrid teeth gnashing about his cheek, though the injury is minor and Rondald is undeterred.  Smashing a forearm into the thing's ulna, he managed to break its grip on his crossbow strap and hurtles the thing forward into the club wielder.  The two skeleton collide with force, though instead of falling, each turn only a quarter of a step and renews their assault.

The one with the club steps towards Finn, it's weapon flashing downward with incredible speed.  Unprepared for the blow, Finn stumbles backwards, backing right into Judoc!  Still, this movement isn't enough, and midstride the club connects with Finn's chest, bruising his right lower shoulder and causing his grip on his knife to slip as the weapon clatters to the floor below!  Judoc steps to the side, lashing his own weapon out to attack the one with the club, though the attack misses by an inch or two...

Magnus, his eyes intent on the eagle-sized demon which swirls round and round near the ceiling finds an opening to attack, though his swing is clumsy and misses the small demon which continues to climb back upwards for another diving attack.

OOC:  The bone sovereign has now turned back towards the NE and is facing Bjorn, both of their attacks having been successfully defended on the last turn.  The map is a little inaccurate with hexes.  Judoc is actually in CC with Finn, and the club skeleton is in the hex that shows Finn.  Finn can no longer retreat with his defenses unless he moves forwards on his next turn.  He dropped his knife due to a crit success of the skeleton on the previous turn and unfortunately you can't use a hero point there.  The other skeleton is in the hex SE of Rondald.  Ron is no longer grappled and has his axe ready in his right hand.  Note that Sadda is small (bird-sized) and is flying, so his hex is not treated as 'occupied'.  Those wishing to attack him however can simply declare that and wait until he gets close enough for an attempt.

Let's do 2 more rounds.

Gustav moves to his left, behind the Skeleton attacking Finn and attacks it from the rear with an AoA (Damage+2 ) ; assuming that one goes down, he'll hack into the one attacking Rondald

Rondald swings his axe, but has it side on to swat the skeleton in front of him. Unfettered, he fights much better and his attacks will force it to dodge or take a good whack...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:15, Sun 29 Dec 2019.

The battle rages, and though Judoc keeps his head amidst the chaotic churn of axes, clubs, and swords, it is clear that his comrades are taking a beating. In particular, Bjorn is all but collapsing, and if Judoc doesn't hurry, the Northman may be killed. By now, Judoc has a good grasp of what it means to be a battle mage: keep the fighters on their feet and fighting. So, although he exposes himself to the skeletons, Judoc races toward Bjorn, heedless of his own safety.

OOC: Run towards Bjorn.

Magnus watched the bird, Sadda, out of the corner of his eye. He knew that it likely knew that it was his new target,but for that, it still needed to get past him and the others if it wanted to continue to torment then another day.

He circled just a bit, and moved his weight from hoof to hoof, biding his time, waiting for his chance.

Finn grits his teeth.  The measure of a man isn't his minute by minute successes and failures but his perseverance.  His tenacity.  And Finn has immeasurable buckets full of that stuff.  He lunges forward once then twice at this stubborn undead thing.


OOC:
Ah, the pains of working a 6 day week.  I have a nice big post in my head but I lack the free time to write it.  So I will throw up this so I dont hold the game up.

Finally seeing his own skeleton fall in a heap of bones, Gustav presses forward his attack, slashing out his sword on the skeleton farthest up the passage which even now swipes its heavy club at Finn.  The sword catches the abomination in the shoulder, crashing downwards through rib and spine before the whole thing collapses into dry bones and dust.

Judoc takes the moment of brief respite to dash forward, bumping a shoulder against Finn as he dives just behind Rondald and the last skeleton standing.  Taking a moment to gather mana around him after his dash, Judoc reaches forward with his staff, thrusting all of his healing power into Bjorn, who staggers forward and back, clashing the black sword off his shield and returning his own strike against the massive tower shield of the monster before him.

Rondald, Gustav and Finn, all three swipe their weapons at the last standing skeleton, though the thief and Rondald miss just barely, Gustav manages another significant blow into the monster's back, severing three or four ribs which clatter to the ground.

At the edge of the room, Magnus eyes the demon bird intently, waiting for the demon bird to drop low and close enough to get a hand on it.

OOC:  Everyone roll again for fatigue for the extended combat.  Success against HT (with fit bonuses) and no FP are lost.  2 more rounds of combat this post.  Rondald has re-readied his axe such that it is facing backwards so that he is attacking with the flat, rather than the blade of the weapon.  Last round was a miss however due to a successful defense.  The skeleton now is in close combat with Rondald (putting your attack at -4) though Finn and Gustav are behind it at range 1.  Terri has also made it to her feet and how has her knife back in her left hand.  Bjorn and the massive skeleton have now seemed to fight to a stalemate, each blocking the other's attacks with relative ease.  Judoc's healing spell against Bjorn was successful, and though the Northman is not fully healed, he is in significantly better shape and no longer in danger of passing out.  Gustav is facing NE, Bjorn SW, Judoc SE, Magnus N.

This message was last edited by the GM at 22:54, Sun 29 Dec 2019.

Rondald swings again, though it is not so effective as he tries to manauver past the last one to help Bjorn...the tower of bone needs to be brought down, and he would like to have a shot at that bird with his crossbow if he can get a chance...
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:03, Mon 30 Dec 2019.

Magnus, as much as he wants to do his part against the lethal giant of bone and blade, feels better having more or less cut off Sadda"s main avenue of retreat.

Now it was just a matter of finally finishing this.

Whatever he was planning, he did not move from where he had planted himself. And if anything seemed to puff himself up to take up even more of the entryway.

Seeing an opening in the fighting, Judoc takes it, and darts forward to heal Bjorn. However, the mage has put himself in a dangerous situation, with one skeleton on one side and the other skeleton, a truly massive specimen, on the other. Now that he is so close in proximity to the monster, Judoc begins to second-think his earlier decision. With Sadda hovering nearby, Judoc knows that much can still happen in this battle.

OOC: Attack the large skeleton.

He again hacks the skeleton across it's torso then makes another attempt but misses due to the skeletons actions

Razzel is a social creature.  One of the joys of his life is sitting around a fire swapping stories.  But its more than the tales.  The stories are a vehicle to form a connection with other people.  A bond.

Finn grew up on the streets.  He wasn't orphaned as many of his street friends were.  Nor was he banished from his home by unloving, cruel parents as some other of his friends were.  No, Finn was born into a mostly loving and caring family.  His parents were overly simple people.  A carpenter and a potter.  They were very content with scraps.  Eeking out an existence and almost starving through every winter.  The mage-thief realized at an early age that he wanted more out of life and that he was more than capable to deliver the goods.

As a young man Finn spent many 'a nights in the common rooms of such seedy taverns as Orc Belly's and Witch's Brew.  He would go fishing for interesting stories but usually his 'net' came back empty.  One such conversation would go:

Finn:  “So Clem, aint seen ya in awhile.  What'd ya do last week?”

Clem:  (rolling his eyes and sighing)  “Well one 'a my pigs got the fever, and then another and another so I spent half the week separating 'em.  And all that rain we had, the fields are flooded.  So took me and the boys three times longer to plow.”

Here and now the situation might look dire to the untrained, or those lacking the proper faith.  While he struggles to be the martial juggernaut of Bjorn or Magnus Finn nonetheless dances around with an unflinching smile neatly framed on his face.  For he knows that not only will his group of friends conquer the day here but he'll have some fantastic stories to tell.

His minds eye conjures him sitting in the tavern common rooms of Azer.  All are quiet, every eye and ear trained unconditionally upon him.

Patron:  “So Finn, I heard you did some'in special last month.  Tell us 'bout it?”

Finn:  (beaming)  “Well, I already told' ya 'bout going down south 'cross the river to kill a bad wizard.  This time we was sent to kill his student.  But, get this, the student, he gone an' made a deal with a deamon!  And 'fore we could kill the deamon it summons a ten foot tall bone monster!  Well you know 'ol Finn...”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Tue 31 Dec 2019.

Sweat and blood flies as swing after swing crackles off of bone and shield.  Bjorn smashes his axe downwards though the blow is swatted aside by the massive shield - just a few feet away however, Gustav and Finn both connect with their blades, smashing the last remaining skeleton into a pile of entangled bone.

But Sadda takes the moment of distraction to strike itself, launching downward into a dive straight at Judoc's face!  The mage notices the demon just in time, bringing his staff to bear and deflecting the foul beast with a meaty thunk!

The king of bones attacks too, his black sword thrusting out in a cutting attack towards Bjorn, and the barbarian raises his shield to block again... but at the last second the attack sways, thrusting out in a cross body attack that targets Judoc instead!  Only a hair's breath separates Judoc's flesh from the weapon as the razor edge cuts a thin gash across the side of his armor - his body stumbling away from the monstrosity.

The staff having sent his small body veering off course, Sadda whirls around again, gaining height in the small room as he prepares for another attack, only barely does he notice his own assailant, Magnus, who drops his mace and shield, grabbing out towards the demon with both furry hands!  The black thing rolls midair, and for the briefest of moments Magnus feels the tough scaly skin of the demon slipping through his fingers, though he cannot keep the hold, and Sadda whirs upwards again and out of reach.

Crash! Bjorn's axe slams through the leg of the sovereign shattering two or three separate femurs that run the course of the appendage.  Still the thing stands and worse, the bones shift again morph again, spewing still more skeletons in nearly every direction!  Though it does not seem that this task has no cost... for while the sovereign once stood two or three heads above Magnus, the thing now seems to be dwindling, if it can be called that - merely making seven feet or so off the ground.

OOC:  I didn't include all the action, though I promise I accounted for every action.  Gustav has turned and is now facing SE after Rondald's skeleton was smashed.  Judoc barely managed to defend against the black blade with the use of a hero point, though both of your attacks were foiled.  Magnus had a 'successful' grapple, though Sadda managed to defend despite the use of the deceptive attack, and you are now standing with your buckler on the floor and your mace hanging from the strap on your arm (unready).  The five new skeletons are all unarmed.

Let's do 2 more rounds of action.

Blocked from the giant bone thing, Rondald brings up his loaded crossbow, checking the bolt is still in place and dropping his axe back onto his belt once again. He aims high, targeting the blackbird this time, and biding his time for a clear shot.

[OOC: Changing back to crossbow will be 2 actions, unreadying the axe and readying the crossbow, after which, Rondald will target the bird to help out Magnus. He will time his shot, not shooting if there is a chance to hit a friend but holding his aim until it is clear. With changing weapons, this will probably happen after this go]
This message was last edited by the player at 07:03, Fri 03 Jan 2020.

With his ever present smile Finn ducks and bobs around the skilled swordsman and finally breaks out to the freedom of the large room.  He hops and dances his way around bone shards to get closer to the action.


OOC:
Move out of the tunnel into the main room.  Do my best to move to attack one of the newly formed skeletons while keeping space behind me to Retreat.

Both Sadda and the giant target Judoc, who they must suspect Judoc is the most dangerous of the combatants. The mage is pushed to the limits of his defensive abilities to avoid being completely run through. Despite Judoc’s skill, the giant bone creature very nearly slices Judoc into ribbons, and the mage stumbles back. Too close to cast spells, and too many enemies in his face, Judoc opts for a more defensive posture.

OOC: All-out Defense.

He steps to the hex closer to Sadda and attacks the Skeleton to his Front, but fumbles the move and attack.

Frustrated with being penned in by the small hallway, Finn dashes forward, ducking behind Gustav who smacks away a tormenting skeleton with the side of his shield.  His knife ready in his hand, Finn jabs in at the nearest skeleton, scoring a thin slash against the thick of its humerus.

Gustav makes his own slash as well, although he does not realize that the heat of the battle has affected him so... his palms sweating and the grip of his broadsword worn, the blade slips in his grasp, missing the skeleton completely and tumbling down to the ground below him...  Gustav curses, kneeling down to grab his fallen blade as he raises his shield.  The skeleton ahead of him seeks to take advantage, throwing himself bodily at the swordsman, though Gustav leans just enough for the thing to miss, and the animated bone hits the floor with a clatter though it is already beginning to push itself back up...

Magnus too finds himself in a bad situation, his grab of the demon foiled and now facing two of the undead who stumble towards him, open hands gripping at his flesh, with neither shield nor mace readied, the minotaur attempts to make the best of what few weapons he has about him for the moment.  Picking up one hoof, he moves to rake the edge down the shin of the closest of the abominations... though his timing is off, or the skeleton's shove is just enough and instead of snapping bone, Magnus finds himself off balance, his arms cartwheeling backwards to try and stay upright though he crashes backwards towards the floor!  Both skeletons dive on top of the minotaur, though panicked, Magnus throws himself to the side and both of the abominations miss!  He pushes himself to a knee, his mace still hanging from the lanyard attached to his wrist...

Towards the other side of the room, Bjorn smashes his axe through the closest of the skeletons, turning the thing into shards of bones that scatter backwards, raining down on the floor with hollow plunk!s as the Northman readies his axe for the next strike.  He swings again at the next skeleton in line, though this blow barely skims the arm of the next one, barely moving the arm as it reaches out to grapple at the barbarian.

Judoc, meanwhile, holds his staff with both hands, his concentration split between the massive skeleton king and the demon which still flits overhead.  He prepares himself totally for the next coming attack, though somehow, that attack does not come.  The massive undead instead strikes out towards Gustav, his black sword missing by the narrowest of margins as the swordsman stumbles to the side...  and again the sword swings wide, and Judoc steps back to remove himself from the way, though this swing is destined for Bjorn, who does not notice the attack in time!  The black blade savages the Northman's mail again, slashing deeply through the ringlets and ribs, causing blood to fly in a thin stripe across the room.  Bjorn stumbles backwards, his back hitting the ground with a crash and a grunt though he still somehow tightly grips his axe.  Judoc's eyes go wide now as he finds himself the only fighter standing up against the behemoth!

Towards the front of the room, Rondald spends his time putting his axe into his belt, his wife hurtling herself past her husband, her knife gripped in her left hand which she slashes at the skeleton on the floor nearest Gustav.  "What are you doing!"  Terri shouts, the ire in her voice obvious as she holds her broken arm close against her ribs.

Overhead, Sadda continues to circle about the ceiling...

OOC:  I forgot to add Sadda to this map, but he's somewhere around where Magnus is kneeling just underneath the top of the cavern at 10' or so up.  3 critical failures from the good guys on that round, which I would have helped out with a hero point if anyone had one :/.  Gustav is in a kneeling position and he may ready his sword and stand on this turn (though not attack).  Magnus is also in a kneeling position after I took some liberties and had him kick rather than ready his mace...  a decision which I regretted after rolling a 17, though the good news is that the two skeletons who tried to tackle you after you fell to the ground both also missed and both are prone.  Magnus you may also ready your mace this turn as you stand if you wish, though you must wait until the next turn to attack.  Bjorn was badly slashed after a critically failed defense and stumbled back against the back wall.  He's back in danger of passing out at any moment.  Rondald has put his axe back in his belt after two seconds of stowing it away and you may ready your crossbow on your next turn.

Lets do 2 more seconds of action.

”Somebody deal with the big guy!” Judoc yells, his voice higher pitched than he would have liked, with a touch of panic. Swear runs down the young mage’s face from the spell-casting. How much longer can he push himself?

He should have let well enough alone, stayed toward the read rather than making a mad dash to here, right in front of the giant skeleton—okay, not quite as giant as before, but still big. His eyes warily on the creature, he mutters another healing spell as he steps toward Bjorn. This could get ugly very quickly.

Concentrate. Side step towards Bjorn.

Rondald readies his crossbow with a concerned look at Terri.

"I am dealing with the real threat. That bird is behind this skeleton... notice how quick they went after Magnus when he went for the bird. You are a good shot, too, you would be better off bringing it down that fighting the bone..."

He loads his crossbow with a silver bolt...just in case.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:56, Sun 05 Jan 2020.

Magnus may have been a far more veteran fighter than he was when he had first joined their eclectic assemblage, but he was still quite young, and still quite mortal.

The kick, well he was not exactly sure why he had kicked out like that. If he was being honest with himself it had been a primal reaction, and an embarrassing one. He had gone through great lengths throughout his life to try and distance himself from the comparison if a stupid wild Bill, but in this case it had seemed very natural to try and crush own of them with a kick. Much like an ape might try to tackle something and beat it to death with overhand hammer blows.

He had very, very little to feel embarrassed however, and in a matter is seconds he was clambering back to his feet, his mace retrieved with a circling motion of his hand, before he took to the task of reducing the skeletons before him to dust like a pestle in a mortar.

Gustav grabs his word, which is a long reach away, then tries to stand in one motions and loses his balance, ending up bent over with his sword in hand, on the ground, keeping him from face planting, his shield on the legs of the skeleton with his weight on it, and his feetsplayed out so he can't stand ... next turn he moves a foot up and tries again to stand, this time he rises to his feet.

Razzel almost fights as if in a daze.  This whole thing is so surreal.  The prison.  The corrupt elves, now wasted insane cannibalistic creatures.  The mad wizard, his madder apprentice and the deamon who seduced them.  The blind zealots from the village who were willing to end it all for a fanatical cause, turns out a cause master minded by an evil spirit.  That irony is delicious.

Mixed in there too are thoughts of later.  How he will be treated when he returns.  What kind of treasure will they be able to scrape from this horrid place.  How long will it take to find the other animals.  What was the name of that red head he slept with last year.  The one with the penchant for squealing while she made love.

As his mind drifts from the rough battle in front of him to esoteric things, while his vision is focused on the here and now he notices something odd.  So strange is the sight that at first Finn doesn't believe it.  It must be some trick of the daemon's he thinks.  But the image is too real to shake.  Magnus, Gustav and Bjorn have all suffered some setback.  And then Judoc's voice cracks through the din of clanking metal and the pained groans of combat.  ”Somebody deal with the big guy!”   Immediately the plucky mage-thief knows his eyes are not deceiving him and more so he knows that the mage is in trouble.  The last place any mage wants to be is facing down a beast without the aid of his full strength.  He ducks his head and charges into the frey!

OOC:
Move to the boss and attack!

The fresh set of skeletons cause havoc despite their lack of weapons, though it seems the initiative turns as some of their number fall to the ground as well.

Finding an easy target in front of him, Magnus swings his mace into position before hurtling it downward on one of the fresh skeletons just getting back to his knees.  Unprepared for the blow, the skeleton shatters into an explosion of bones and shards which scatter over the ground below.  The other skeleton makes its way to its feet, rushing the minotaur in an effort to grab him, though Magnus even without his shield manages to evade the attempt, jumping backwards as he pushes away an arm with his empty hand.

Gustav too finds his target an easy mark.  Grabbing his sword off the floor, the swordsman takes a moment before bringing it down in a devastating blow, hacking off the things leg which sends it tumbling back to the floor.

Rondald takes the demon as the biggest threat, swinging his crossbow into place by pulling on his strap and gripping it with his left hand - though the weapon is still cocked, the bolt has fallen out some time ago during the fight... likely when Rondald was trying his best to avoid attacks from the skeletons.  Chastising his wife for her short-sightedness, he eyes Sadda, who gains height above as he continues circling over the fray.

Terri, for her part, does not seem to think the comments are well placed.  "MY ARM.  IS BROKEN!"  She spits as she swings wildly with her knife using her left hand, leaving herself wide open for counter attack, though the skeleton (his leg freshly severed by Gustav's blade) seems to have little opportunity to take advantage.  The blade makes narrow cuts against the chalky white monster, though the damage does not seem to be significant.

Most impressive however, is Bjorn who lies on his back, with the monstrous creature of bone standing above and hacking down with inhuman strikes.  Despite his horrific injuries, Bjorn still fights on, his shield propped against his forearm as he catches one blow after another, sending the black iron into the cave floor, causing sparks to spray up into the air.  Bjorn makes no move to reposition, but gives thought only to his defense, forgetting the last skeleton who jumps onto the Northman, gripping both shoulders as it presses its rancid face up against his!

Seeing his comrade in dire need, Finn charges forward, slashing out with his knife against the exposed backside of the bone king.  The blow is significant, cutting deeply between two vertebrae of the spine, though it will take many more such blows to take it out of the fight!

OOC:  Sorry for the lack of a map this time but I am short of time.  Judoc, you successfully healed Bjorn for 3HP and did not need your all out defense on the second turn.  Rondald has his crossbow in place and can take the next turn fast drawing a bolt and putting it into place, and you can fire (with no aim bonus) on the turn after.  Gustav, no DX roll was necessary to pick up your weapon and stand (I treated it the same way as a stand and attack) so I had you attack randomly on the second turn.  Your skeleton is back on the floor with a hacked off left leg.  Magnus, you have destroyed one of your skeletons and are in close combat with the other after his grapple attempt.  The last skeleton has jumped on top of Bjorn.  Finn has moved 2 hexes to the right and the bone sovereign is now standing in the hex the Bone Sovereign was previously in - the sovereign has moved to the hex next to Bjorn, and Judoc has moved to the partial hex next to Bjorn (just up from where the Bone Sovereign is now).  Sadda continues to circle overhead.

2 more rounds of action please.

Gustav moves to attack the Bone Monster in the rear ; on arrival he makes an all out attack (+2 Damage)  into the vertebrae under the rib cage.

Hearing Terri behind him saying her arm is broken, Judoc cannot help but be awed. She fights on, even as badly injured as this? And here Judoc is, quailing before one undead monster. The woman shames him. The realization hits him that she is braver than he. Time after time, Terri has demonstrated a courage and resilience that Judoc himself lacks, for all his bluster. Now is not the time to fear. It is time Judoc started acting like a man rather than a churlish schoolboy.

His vigor renewed, he focuses his attack on the skeleton currently trying to chew on Bjorn. "Get off him!" Judoc yells, swinging his staff.

OOC: Attack the skeleton attacking Bjorn.

Finn was a rogue.  A con man.  A mage.  A friend.  Apolitical.  A capitalist.  A healer.  But above all, a strategist.  He loved the game of Shatranj because success relies so much on a well developed and calculating mind, which Razzel prizes above all other things.

And so in this moment true to form Finn calculates his options, weighing each one and its potential outcome with lightning speed.  He could reach out and grab hold of the bone monsters weapon arm.  But how long could he hold something clearly larger and stronger than himself?  Then again holding it isn't his aim for the nimble thief-mage knows his strength on the field of battle is not getting hit.  Or he could wiggle his fingers and move the very rock that this creature stands upon.  Given enough time he might mold it up and around its arm, fixing the black weapon in place.  But he is already taxing himself magically and this venture might not pay off.  Yet another possibility is to simply jump on the things back and try to off balance it.  If the towering nightmare fell over then it would give Bjorn plenty of time to get to his feet without the burden of moving his shield to block that deadly black blade.  But this kind of manuever works best with two free hands and Finn has lost enough weapons today.  In no time as his sharp mind processes his options he makes his decision.


OOC:
Shatranj is the Arabic version of chess.  While Finn learned it in Azer he learned it by its Arabic name.

Magnus felt the impact travel up his arm as the skeleton buckled and shattered under the blow. Then, before he could recover and bring the mace around, he felt the odd sensation of being tackled by a a creature without any muscular that he could see.

Disgusted, and confused, he jerked back and attempted to push the thing off in an effort to make enough room to bring his weapon to bear.

Rondald sometimes did not understand his wife: she criticized him, then got defensive when he responded to her criticism. But there were greater problems. After loading a silver bolt, he aimed carefully at the flying demon but waited to pull the trigger until the right moment...
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:38, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

Though there are more skeletons yet to subdue, it seems that Bjorn's plight draws the rest of the adventurers in, forcing them to attack the largest skeleton, the king, to keep it from hacking Bjorn to pieces while the Northman is down.

Judoc acts directly, swiping his staff in an overhand blow that smashes downward on the skeleton crawling on Bjorn.  The staff meets the thing's elbow, smashing the ulna open and spraying shards of bone in all directions.  The distraction is just enough for Bjorn who arches his back, throwing all his weight into throwing the skeleton off with his shield.  The thing rolls off to the right, and Bjorn makes his way to one knee.

Gustav charges, his weapon slashing as he runs with a blow that cuts deep into the bone man's thick spine.  His defenses completely dropped for the moment, Gustav holds his breath as he sees the mass of bone turning, but the black sword this time lashes out towards Judoc, who leaps back just in time, the blade swiping less than an inch from his chest.

Finn too rushes in, placing himself just behind the bone king, ready to grab the things arm to disable the deadly blade, though the thing slashes out again, hacking towards Gustav, though the swordsman parries the blow with his own blade, showering sparks with float towards the ground for a moment before winking out.

Judoc and Gustav attack back, the mage's staff swatted away by the sword as the shield smashes Gustav's sword to the side, Finn too, jumps in to grapple the thing's arm but by now the massive hulk of bone has turned enough that he sees the rogue's advance and shivers his arm backwards, smashing his shield into Finn's shoulder as he attempts to step forward.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Magnus steps back from the skeleton, hurtling his mace downward in the small space between them.  The blow catches the skeleton on the shoulder, though it doesn't stop there.  Instead, it crashes through collarbone, ribs, even knocking the thing's pelvis out of place before it falls, completely useless, to the floor.  Magnus is so surprised by the force of the blow that he barely thinks to turn himself towards the rest of the combat as he watches the shards of bone clatter to the ground.

Off near the entrance, Terri continues to hack away at the legless skeleton which attempts to gain purchase on hands and knee...

OOC:  I completely forgot to add in the last post that you are half move and dodge Judoc.  Somehow, the dodge still managed to succeed against the Bone Sovereign's attack.  You are however, exhausted and can check your fatigue on your character sheet.  The sovereign is facing Gustav and everyone but Finn is at range 1.  Finn, you are in CC and may attempt another grapple this turn.  Unfortunately, you had too much ground to cover before the Grapple, during which time the Bone Sovereign turned, putting you in a side hex and he made his dodge.  Gustav, I had to change your All out Attack to a Move and attack, due to your range, though you still made the roll and did significant damage.  Bjorn has made it to his knees and still seems to be in the fight somehow.  His skeleton is also on it's knees.  Terri is standing with her skeleton on it's knees and grappling her by the leg.  Magnus is facing NE.  Bjorn, I think your post was cut off, I opted to have you aim at Sadda for a turn rather than shoot.

Let's do another 2 rounds of combat.

Carefully aiming at Saddas heart, Rondald squeezes the trigger. The silvered bolt flies true...
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:17, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

Never before has Finn had so much trouble wrestling with a foe, then again he's never faced a magical creature made only of bones.  Despite his best efforts this towering beast slips through his grasp time and time again.  Razzel would be highly frustrated but his worry over his friends is louder within his mind.

Not where he wanted to be, he makes the best of it, trying to keep attacking the spine under the ribs as the only potential weak spot he can reach readily.

Magnus, unwilling to let Terri be assaulted just a few feet away from him, attempted a quick "hop" over behind her attacker, when he swung the head of the mace down towards the back of the skill and upper spine.

He hoped it would be more or less an execution, as one eye was still bent towards preventing Saddas escape.

Crack!

The breaking of bone sounds like a blast as Terri pulls back her knife arm, a self-satisfied smirk across her face as the skeleton facing her reels one mangled arm back even as the other continues to clutch at her feet.  Magnus leaps to her defense as well, smashing his mace down the the small of the skeletons back, shattering the thing into dust as it slumps back to the cave floor.

Twang!

Across the room, the string of Rondald's crossbow unloads, sending the silvered bolt into the air and straight towards the demon which turns even now to face Rondald.  For a moment, Rondald had pondered where exactly a demon's heart may lie...  would it be in the normal position? or perhaps somewhere around the stomach?  Would it have a heart at all, or just a soft interior of sticky bile that pumped itself by magic and hate?  Deciding not to think overmuch on the issue, Rondald just shrugs and aims for center mass, thinking that will do the most damage.
 Indeed, the bolt flies true, though at the last moment, the demon whirls in a roll midair, and the bolt passes harmlessly by its wing before the wood shaft shatters against the cave ceiling beyond.

But the demon sails down, increasing speed as it dives towards the sailor!  Rondald jerks to the side, his crossbow slapping against his chest as he tries to let it settle on the strap, the razor sharp claws whizzing just inches from his face!  Panicked, the sailor tugs on the handle of his axe, trying to get it clear again from his belt.

Meanwhile, the mass of bones faces four foes all at once, it's black sword slashing and hacking slamming Judoc's poorly timed swing well away, as its shield bashes Gustav's weapon away.  Finn takes the moment to step back and attempt to grapple the undead again, though the thing moves so much it is impossible to find a grip!

The black sword slices forward, catching Gustav just below the shield and slicing open his chain shirt all across the front, flaying a wide stripe across his lower ribcage!  Gustav double back with the blow, his breathing labored and the wound painful.  Though the cut only ebbs a trickle of blood, Gustav feels as if the black sword has taken not only his breath, but far more besides...  Still the swordsman pushes himself to stand and fight on to keep the monstrous bone thing at bay.

Crash!

Bjorn's axe smashes through layers of bone, hacking through the monster's side on his unprotected flank.  The single armed skeleton at his side charges the northman, his one hand clutching forward for whatever purchase it can make, thought the barbarian's shield comes up and forward, smashing the skeleton in the face and sending it tumbling backwards onto the floor where it lays still on the cavern floor.

The thing turns, now facing the Northman directly, it's black sword leaping toward Bjorn in a backhand swing.  The Barbarian's shield gets in place just in time, the blade wedging itself deeply between two of the planks which crackle with stress as the begin to break free from the supports.  But Bjorn's axe is already moving again, the wide, pitted blade swinging just under the thing's right arm.  Unable to break its sword free from the shield, the bone monster makes a weak attempt at jumping clear, though it is not enough and the axe crashes into the monster's side, shredding through bone and stopping only at the center of the things chest!

With a groan, the bone monster crashes to a single knee before falling apart entirely, littering the floor with broken bone.

Overhead, Sadda swoops down again, intent on attacking Finn from behind, though impossibly, Magnus swings his mace, catching the monster midair and surprising him completely.  The mace crashes into the demon's side, swatting him from the sky and slamming him bodily into the wall of the cavern!  Sadda shrieks with pain, stumbling in a small patch of purple mushrooms to get back to a standing position, though the mace crashes down again, Magnus intent on ending the being once and for all.

Crunch!

Though made of far stronger stuff than skin and bones, even the demon cannot withstand the full weight of the mace flung down by a Minotaur.  skin and scale buckle as the life fades from the hateful, red eyes...  for several moments the demon smolders like a coal, shriveling ever smaller and blacker until all that is left is an ashen black lump the size of a human fist.

And just like that - the room is quiet again, the soft purple fungus emitting a warming glow, making the rubble of bone look almost pinkish on the cave floor...

OOC:  Perhaps I nerfed this adventure too much for you guys...  I never expected everybody to make it through unscathed.  That being said, congratulations.  The bone Sovereign and Sadda are both dead, Magnus having scored a critical success on an attack to finally take the thing out of the air and render it mostly defenseless on the ground.  The following are the spoils of the fight, all worn with age and rust:

1 staff
1 nunchuku
1 great axe
2 axe
2 broad sword
2 medium shield
1 spear
2 Clubs
1 Morning Star

Also, the Bone Sovereign dropped:

1 Large Shield (mostly unblemished)
1 Black Broadsword (this is Gustav's Magic item earned in the last random roll)

Gustav and Bjorn are both severely injured.  Gustav, please roll vs. HT to stay conscious.  We are out of fighting and you guys can again post general actions as you desire.

Had Magnus possessed even a modicum of Finn's wit, he might have said something memorable as he crushed Sadda beneath the two handed blow.

But, the Minotaur did not. Nor did he possess Rondalds grace, Judocs gravity or Gustav's form.

No, for poor Magnus it was just a messy, yet effective end to the whole affair as he pulverized the stunned bird again and again like a frustrated caveman, grunting with the exertion.

After the third, or fourth two handed over head blow he paused to look around frantically, wide eyed and frothing at the mouth, his chest heaving beneath his mail hauberk as he sought out his next foe.

Only to find of course that they had all been dispatched. Even the great engine of bone that had barreled into their line lay broken into so many fragments upon the ground.

So he paced, this way and that, mace at the ready until he was sure that nothing else was about to leap out at them.

Only then did he take stock of their numbers to find....everyone more or less intact. They had, against all odds, come through without a single casualty.

It was perhaps a sign of the experiences he had endured among them that he did not collapse this time. Nor did he vomit or even dry heave. No, when he realized they were done, he just bent over at the waist, put his gloves hands on his knees, and just tried to breath.

"Ugggh" he groaned long and loud before he straitened and stretched his shoulders painfully, eyes screwed shut. "That things dead right?" He eventually shouted and jabbed his mace at Saddas flattened remains. "Or do we need to say a prayer...or get a priest or somethin?" he asked through deep breaths as he put his hands on his hips and bent over to take the weight of the armor off his shoulders.

Rondald recovered himself and looked around, panting heavily as he drew his axe, looking around for anything else that threatened them. But only they still movies.

"I was hoping that crossbow bolt might have done him in, but at least it held it's attention. Good job on that bone thing...did it fall because the demon fell, or became Bjorn killed it? Not that it matters. Lets try to patch everyone up now..."

He moves to Terri first, both to see if she is OK and also to see if she is able to help others.. He himself then tries to patch up Bjorn and Gustav.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Gustav staggers, shield still up and tries to swing at the enemy.. except it's not there ... the pain is intense, making him want to double up, but you can't fight or defend doubled up, so he stands and looks for the demon bird, by that point Magnus is Tenderizing it seriously. Gustav sags to the floor and tries to get his armor and gear out of the way so he can deal with the wound, but soon Rondald is there helping. Gustav mumbles his thanks.

At some point he'll recover the black sword and try and assess it.

History is rife with stories of heroes and morons.  One such hero is General Augustus Barbarosa who most Azerians have heard of if at least only by name.  He lead, to his credit almost successfully, an ill fated rebellion which most felt never stood a chance because of inferior numbers and equipment.  But Barbarosa showed his genius by taking long odds and keeping his rag tag bunch on the winning side of things far longer than anyone imagined.  That is until General Richeon Tyrkyl came along mid way through the campaign.  General Tyrkyl's most valuable asset was that he wasn't afraid of anything.   He did feel fear, he just chose not to succumb to its sometimes paralyzing effects.  One such story that Finn loves is when Tyrkyl was relatively new and his officers were nearly trembling as they discussed the events of a recent battle in which Barbarosa crushed a larger force.  Irritated at what he saw Tyrkyl finally butted in and blurted out, “Shut up.  The way you're talking you'd think Barbarosa was going to do a back flip and end up in our ranks.  Bring some artillery and horses up here.”

Razzel is cut from similar cloth.  He fears.  But he chooses to find a way around, under or over an opponent if he cannot get through them.  And as the bone monstrosity falls and the room settles into quiet once more Finn looks around.  They are battered and nearly exhausted but not one of his friends suffers horribly.  Just as he knew it would be all along.

Stuffing his knife back into its holder Finn makes a mental note to spend more time in the training grounds with larger weapons.  And, he needs a new strategy for adventures like this.  People just cant be trusted.  What's the use of going to all the trouble of stealing someone's stuff if someone else is just going to carelessly burn it up?

In no time the plucky mage-thief assesses the danger noticing two of his comrades in serious trouble.  Seeing that Rondald is headed for the swordsman Finn rushes to Bjorn's aid.  Dropping to his knees he begins to murmur and wiggle a few fingers.


OOC:
For the record the line about people burning up his stuff, this isn't directed at the group.  As far as Finn was told it was the enemy who burnt up his stuff.

Run to Bjorn.  Begin casting Major Heal to stop the bleeding and keep him out of danger.  Then move to Gustav and do the same.

If we're ready to fast forward this is the plan.  Take all valuables that we can carry and go see Mika'il.  Assuming that he is still there, alive and exhausted have Magnus swing the mace to break the rock holding him there.  I dont want Mika'il dead but if he gets injured in the process I'm ok with that.  Broken fingers/hands wont hurt him long term.

Then we go back to camp to rest and regroup.  First order is rest and diagnosis to see who needs more healing.  A close second is retrieving the lost animals.  Can Aiah help there?  If not I have animal spells that can help.  Following that we need to decide what to do next.

This message was last edited by the player at 23:58, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Who can say why we fight? Toe to toe, even the best of us can falter when faced with foes of superior skill and insight. But in this case, it is numbers, not skill, that threatened to overwhelm the group tasked with stopping the necromancer and his assistant, but somehow, they have battled through. The skeletons lie defeated, piles of bones scattered across the floor, even the gigantic skeleton that could somehow absorb and spawn skeletons of its own. Sadda lies destroyed as well, crushed by Magnus's mighty mace.

"Demons tend to stay dead," Judoc says when Magnus asks. The Templar student leans wearily on his staff as he takes in the carnage. "The body will decompose, just like a mortal's, and if we leave Sadda there, it will one day be nothing more than a skeleton." At least, that had been what had happened to the imp. Do demons stay truly dead, or are they somehow banished from the world when killed like this?

"Amazing work, all of you," he says with warmth in his voice. He had been certain that they would prevail, but faced with the numbers they had encountered, doubt had begun to creep into Judoc's thoughts. Even now, he can recognize how fortunate the group is. Many of them bear wounds, but no one is dead. "I'll help heal when I can, Finn, but right now, any casting at all is going to nearly wipe me out."

OOC: Judoc will accompany the others and rest when he gets a chance. Aiah can help in spotting the horses, but Judoc hasn't been able to communicate with her since they've gone underground. When Judoc gets a chance, he'll rest, and then begin helping to heal the group.

Let's make sure we take any weapons that might have resale value (if any) with us..
This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

Gustav remembers his healing potion and thinks this might be a good time for it (after ensuring he won't be wasting it after Finn's and Rondald's efforts).
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Magnus gradually relaxed, and began to help where he could. Judoc's words gave some sense of closure to the whole affair. They had traveled so far, and endured so much, that to be finished with their work and heading home seemed almost the stuff of fantasy. Even now their close call in the burning building haunted him, and he suspected it would continue to do so for days to come if not longer.

"Hell of a way to make a living" he grumbled as he eventually took a seat. "What'da say Finn? What'd we do now?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:20, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Though Finn is eager to get moving it takes longer than he had hoped for everything to get settled and ready to move.  Gustav and Bjorn are still grievously hurt, Terri with a crippled arm, and Judoc exhausted, putting more than half their number in no fit state to make a hasty departure.

Rondald moves first to Terri, who has put her knife back in her belt and is now holding her right arm with her left, her face in a strained grimace.  After giving the wound a quick look, Rondald finds that most of the bruising has been already healed through Judoc's magic, though the swelling and the tenderness remain.  Rondald cuts a narrow slit through her leather armor to remove it from just above the elbow then fashions a sling out of a wrap of cloth from the first aid kit.  Once the sailor is finished his wive looks back into his face, her expression somewhat relieved and she barely whispers, "Thank you." the moment of emotion overcoming her.  As Rondald moves on to Gustav, Terri walks towards the back of the cave, taking a moment to herself.

Finn too, hurries to heal those who are wounded, moving first to Bjorn, who by now has a thick pate of blood drying brownish red on his chain link shirt and soaking the undershirt beneath.  Finn quickly casts his magic, far from healing the Northman completely but at least closing the wound enough to keep things from getting any worse.

Gustav proves a bit trickier however.  Finn's magic seems to betray him once or twice, though eventually he managed to pull his spell off...  Along with Rondald's simple bandaging, Gustav seems improved enough, though he opts to down his own healing potion, just to ensure there is no further internal damage not already cured through magical or mundane means.

"Well, here's this."  Terri says as she walks back in from the small back cave, tossing another eight inch tile on the floor of the cave near the others.  This one, like the others, is gold, it's face depicting a wide-eyed screech owl.

Indeed, there are other small treasures at the back of the cave as well, including a long and lean leather jacket, a handful of small stones, and a beautiful silver emblem, the size of a small shield that is smithed into the shape of a skull with a scythe in the background.  Rubies are fitted into the horrific thing's eyes and from its crown is sprouted ropey tendrils of emerald laden hair.  There is also a small quiver of arrows and a thin bottle of potion laying idly in the corner.

Eventually, however, the group makes its way back to where they had left Mika'il.  The mage hangs, quite litterly, his wrists buried in the thick of the stone wall, completely unconscious.  He is slumped almost midair, his features drawn and pale as death.  The mage lives still however, though his breath is thin and uneven.

"Go on Magnus,"  Finn says offhand, pointing towards where the mage's arms are sunk into the wall of the cave.  "Get him out of there."

OOC:  I'm in the fast forwarding mode and I will get to all the questions eventually - forgive me however for what may seem like arbitrary stopping positions, I promise they are not.  Here's the loot from the last cave:

Enchanted Leather Jacket Defense +3 (Rondald's Magic item)
Skull symbol
3 gemstones (citrine, tiger's eye, and amethyst)
Quiver of 18 arrows
Potion

I'll add them to the group items.

Rondald is in no hurry to move. His wife's show of emotion touched him, and he continues to tend her carefully and carries everything he can, looking for any options to heal her arm. The Leather Jacket is easiest to carry by wearing it, so he does so. Once they make it back to the mage, he gathers things and suggests getting everything and everyone back to the mules, and finding a defensible location to set up camp. He was not sure the trip home would be safe or without complications, so he suggested they delay leaving until all were well enough to travel, or even fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:59, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

Magnus seemed almost eager to get the prisoner out of his stone restraint. But as he looked over the stone more carefully, he sucked in a breath and shook his head.

"I can do it...but I'm probably gonna hurt him pretty bad." he informed the group. "I mean, you got something hard enough to break stone, what chance does a man's arm have?" he gestured to the man once more. "You'd need like a chisel, and a hammer. Maybe a little pick or something."

OOC:Magnus will grab that Large Shield for the moment to replace his destroyed one.

Finn does not smile as he bends over to pick up the golden tile of the owl.  While he is immensely satisfied at their victory he is loath of the argument he knows is coming.  Ever the capitalist Razzel has a mind not to leave this place empty handed.  Aside from their mission he came here to line his pockets and after recent discussions its clear few of his fellows share in his vision.

Too the plucky mage-thief gathers what fallen valuables he can.  He is tired, oh so tired, and hurt though neither facet of his being troubles him greatly.  He trudges through quietly knowing that some rest and magic will have him good as new in no time.

Minutes later the band of brothers stands before an exhausted and helpless necromancer.  Magnus hesitates at freeing the evil man.  Finn smiles warmly.  The big minotaurs conscience is so cute.  ”Dont worry mah friend.  This...”, Finn says as he pats his friend on the shoulder and holds up some fingers while wiggling them.  ”These 'er the tools uv'a wizard.  Few broken fingers is better for us an' it gonna kill him.”


OOC:
Take all of valuables listed and as much of the junk as we can carry now.  Later we'll sort out what junk we take and what we leave behind.

Finn is telling Magnus to go ahead and smash away.  Finns reasoning is that we either need to kill Mika'il or bring him with us.  Finn doesn't trust a mage out of his sight for very long.  And Finn isnt done with Mika'il yet.  Such as I'd like to know where are the rest of his people.  The ones we fought yesterday.  Did they leave, did he kill them and turn them into skeletons, what?  I also don't believe him when he says he doesn't have any stuff here.

Finn is saying that if Mika'il winds up with 2 broken hands he wont die and not being able to use his hands is actually a plus for us.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

In reply to Finn Razzel (msg # 97):

I am assuming we brought everything. Rondald will want a shield as well, probably the lightest one.

Magnus hesitatef. For here lay a quandary that he had now considered before.

Mika'il was an evil man, that was unarguable at the point. Necromancy, trafficking with Demons, slavery, and the threat of unleashing God one what against the Empire and all of Christendom.

He had tried, and very nearly succeeded, to kill Magnus and his friends on more than one occasion.

But now he was a prisoner, not harmless, in face still dangerous in his way. But he was bound up before them.

Would the time taken to try and track down the right tools justify the danger? How far out of their way would they go for this man? And it was not like Magnus was trying to hurt him, it was just a byproduct of the messy process of trapping him in the first place.

And besides all that, Finn had become something of the defacto leader, and Magnus believed that Finn was smarter them himself, even if he did doubt his judgement at times (the siege came to mind)

And so, of nobody else protested, he shook his broad shaggy head at the hapless Mika'il. "I'd stay real still if I were you." he warned the mage, and when the others were ready to "receive" him, Magnus lined up his best shot and went to work.

When Judoc realizes what Finn intends for Magnus to do, the Templar student grimaces and turns his head in distaste. ”Must we be so uncivilized?” he murmurs, though he does not object to Finn’s directions. Mika’il has done little to earn any kind of mercy, and Judoc knows well a wizard’s reliance on gestures and incantations, but the solution seems so brutish. It would be better to simply kill Mika’il than to subject the apprentice to such torture.

Judoc looks with interest at the items found in the cave. ”Another tablet,” he says thoughtfully. Even though he knows that Sadda had been a manipulating Mika’il into opening Perdition’s cells, part of Judoc mightily desires to know what might be hidden behind those doors. They had bested Mika’il, Sadda, the skeletons, and the sentries, but could they handle a threat like the giant lizard that had apparently killed so many men? Judoc finds it easy enough to squelch any kind of lust for power or riches he might be experiencing, but it is not so easy to deny that nagging idea in his head that he would dearly like to see what is locked away within Perdition’s vaults.

But first things first. They are nowhere near full strength to tackle Perdition’s doors. Mika’il first, and then rest and the horses.

OOC: Is anyone else getting a Prometheus/Alien Covenant vibe here? Judoc’s leaning towards opening the vaults, but we could very well be facing Xenomorph level foes if we do.

If there is a decent light shield lying about, Gustav will take it to replace his battered and chopped up leftovers he has been using as a shield.
He puts the sword he had been using over his back and puts the black sword in his scabbard after having the two mages  surmise what it may offer compared to the one he had.

Finn watches the brutish looking minotaur hesitate at his request to free the necromancer, the hard way.  In this moment Razzel again for something like the tenth time stands in awe at the duality of this race.  On the outside they look frightening, menacing, even monstrous.  The huge bulging muscles but more so the bulls head.  The horns, the rough animalistic mood portrayed.  But in truth Finn has found that Magnus might be the most human among them.  He is filled with more compassion, humility and patience certainly than their leader.  Why are people so quick to 'judge a book by its cover' as the old expression goes?  And will people ever learn their lesson and see that to judge someone a person must look for deeper and intangible qualities.  Finn finds it funny, and not in a humorous way, that people study history.  But most miss the lessons.  They learn facts.  They remember names and dates but they fail to learn the lessons that history offers.  One would think war and other miseries could be avoided if we learned from past mistakes.  But no, people seem almost destined to repeat the mistakes of their fore fathers.

Pulling himself from his waxing philosophical the optimist turns to Judoc and frowns slightly.  ”What would ya have me do Judoc??!!, Finn spits out.  ”Heal him an' get so tired I cant stan' up?”  Razzel glances at the man they've chased for so long.  ”Ya.  Its necessary.  When a man comes at me with a stick I aint gonna fight 'im off with words.  If you don't think it's fair he shou'n't 'a come at me.”  Finn nods at Magnus signaling the go ahead.


OOC:
Never saw them so no vibe here.

Taking my discussion of the vaults to the OOC.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:38, Thu 16 Jan 2020.

"Why hurry? We can rest, then get him down humanely, right?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:11, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

For a moment, Judoc reflects on the one-aided fight that led to his moniker The Merciful. Whether Judoc truly earned the title or not, he has refused to kill a man he hopelessly outmatched that day. Mika’il is a different breed of man than Thresher, but nevertheless, bile rises in Judoc’s throat.

”You could just as easily free him with your magic, Finn,” Judoc says, still weary from the battle. ”Intentionally breaking the man’s bones? That’s torture. Is that how your Row normally operates?” Judoc shakes his head and frowns in distaste. ”From my perspective, Mika’il here is a prisoner of war. He doesn’t deserve our mercy or pity, and he probably deserves death for what he’s done to the people he was supposed to lead and guide, but to casually inflict harm? That’s stone cold, my friend.”

Judoc shrugs. ”I’m not going to stop you, and I have little interest in debate here, but the morality of the situation strikes me. If we treat Mika’il so callously, I fail to see how we are much better than he, and torture would certainly be in line with some of my superiors’ actions. Kill him if you need to, but I fail to see the merits in prolonging his suffering.”

OOC: Judoc isn’t on board with torture. He prefers to either kill Mika’il now or bind and gag him and return him to his village. However, I don’t want to bog things down with an ethics debate. Basically, Judoc hates what he has seen professors at his school commit, including torture, and seeing Finn advocate similar actions makes Judoc recoil.

A very nearly exhausted Finn turns to Rondald.  The man is tired after the long grueling fight but the truth is that his spell work has taken the mickey out of him.  ”The horses.”  And he leaves it at that.

When Judoc blusters about morality Finn laughs out loud before throwing back his response.  ”I could use my magic...but I aint gonna.  I'm close to fallin' down I'm so tired Judoc.  And I aint gonna waste what I got left so's this a'hole...”, Razzel thumbs at the apprentice necromancer, ”...can live in comfort.  You say murder him to spare him a couple 'a broken bones?  I say that's stone cold.  He's a God Damned wizard Judoc.  If he lives through this he'll heal his'self someday.  What's a little pain?  He brought this misery on his'self by tryin' ta open those cells.  An' I aint got no sympathy for 'im.”


OOC:
I dont mean to prolong things with a long IC role play scene so I'll try to explain myself here.

Finn wants to get back to camp to rest ASAP.  While there anyone who is able can begin to go out and search for the animals who fled the stables when Mika'il attacked it.  Finn sees getting them back and returning them to camp as the highest priority.

Finn has only a few fatigue left.  Yes, Mika'il might suffer some pain and broken bones.  If Finn were fully rested and we didn't have the issue of our missing animals to deal with, which is a direct result of Mika'il, then I would take the time to get him out without risking him injury.  But due to the current problems we face Finn doesn't feel as though spending our limited resources to save Mika'il some temporary pain is worth it.  Again, Finns philosophy is that if you don't start shit then shit wont happen to you.  Any pain or broken bones is just desserts for being an asshole.  Plus, if he is left alive Mika'il can heal himself in time using his own magic.  His pain is very temporary.  Finn is quite shocked that Judoc would suggest that the humane thing to do is end the mans life to save him a few weeks of pain.  Further, Finn would say this isn't torture.   Finn could do much, much worse to this man for what he and his master were attempting to do.  Finn is actually showing restraint and compassion by not beating this man within an inch of his life for attempting to basically launch a nuke at our people.

Gustav watches the back and forth, OK two things; first we don't know where or if his others are around, so we should stay together. Second, do we need Mika'il for anything? He has tried to kill us, killed many of his own and can be trusted to do us harm first chance he gets. If'n we don' need 'im, I'll dispatch 'im now.


OOC - Guess who has a Callous Disadvantage.

Some argument occurs over the fate of Mika'il and how kind or not their response should be.  Finn is adamant however, that he will not spend even a drop of energy freeing the wretch, a position that seems somewhat ironic to Magnus as the thief directs him to lift his mace and shatter through the stone of the wall, a feat which is likely to be far more fatiguing than smashing through the thin mortar and stone interior wall he had knocked down earlier.

Still, the minotaur accepts the job as he wants to get moving to find Gus just as much as the others.  He grips his mace firmly, walks towards Mika'il and murmurs the hope that the apprentice will remain still.  It seems mostly just a mental note to himself, for the apprentice is still cold and pale, his eyes closed and lethargic.  Magnus draws his mace back over his shoulder, hurling it towards the stone wall with an overhand swing.

It is an awkward angle.  Mika'il hangs from the curvature of the cave wall, his feet dangling a few inches above the cave floor.  Though Magnus is close than a foot taller than the mage, and has the length of his mace to add to it, it is still an overhand swing to target near where his wrists are buried in the stone.  To add to that, there is no elegant angle to simply hammer into the wall, what with the handing body of the mage also getting in his way.  Never the less, the mace slams into the stone, just near where the the two wrists sink into the dirty grey.

Crash!

The mace rebounds off the wall, sending an echo blasting off the cave walls and causing a shower of dust and grit to fall towards the already filthy fur of Magnus's face.  The sound seems to rouse Mika'il, who rolls his head loosely about his shoulders, his eyes fluttering, though he does not seem quite coherent yet.

Crash!

The mace rebounds again, sending cracks rippling across the surface of the stone and another shower of dust cascading down across everyone in the group.  Mika'il startles, his eyes flashing open and he does what any man would do waking to finding a Minotaur swinging a sturdy mace directly at him.  Mika'il begins to scream.  [Language unknown: "Li!  Menoiv!  Th..."]

Crash!

The cracks ripple farther on, this time sending a small shower of rubble, perhaps scraping down the first small bit of stone, showering down across Mika'il's face which seems impossibly pale, a stark contrast from his vivid, red, screaming mouth.  [Language unknown: "...K Prosonati!  Ticai a les hose..."]

Crack!

Magnus pulls his mace back, dumbstruck for the moment.  For on the last swing he had not hit stone as he intended, but missed just a few inches off - planting his weapon solidly into Mika'il's left arm.  Things are all the worse because Mika'il simply has nowhere to go.  Hanging by his wrists, the full weight of his body already pressuring his arms, he cannot move, nor dull the blast as the mace crashes through tibia and fibia, shattering the forearm as the mace continues, unstoppable, until the meaty skin and mace finally hit the backstop of the stone with a meaty thunk.

Mika'il's arm is destroyed.  Fragments of bloodied bone spear out of his flesh like jagged peaks and blood fountains towards the ceiling in bright, red spurts.  Though Mika'il's face contorts in horror, his mouth hanging open in anticipation, the scream never comes, instead he slumps back into unconsciousness as his body sways slowly back and forth from the blast, the spurting blood from his wrist already giving diminishing returns...

Finn is surprised to say the least, Judoc somewhat aghast, and though the latter moves quickly to try and allay some of the worst, by the time he reaches the apprentice he is already too far gone, his breathing stopped, his arterial wound already merely leaking rather than gushing.

Mika'il, the apprentice of Haj-Umr is dead.

OOC:  Again, sorry for the pause if you guys just wanted to keep moving forward but I figured this was worth the moment.  I'll give everyone a response and then keep fast forwarding as it seems reasonable.

Life has a way of not believing in the plan as you do.  And this is one of those moments when the plan gives Finn the middle finger.  From both hands.

Magnus strikes several times and all seems to be going well.  Until it doesn't.  The minotuars strength does what it does as it hits not rock but flesh and bone.  Finn rushes to save the man just as Judoc does but there is just not enough time or energy.  Before he knows it the man is dead.

Finn doubles over at the knees.  His face pales.  This wasn't supposed to happen.  Some broken fingers maybe.  A sprained or broken wrist perhaps.  But a shattered arm and death.  And then the foolishness of his actions hit him like a ton of bricks.  Why oh why was Finn so head strong he wrestled with himself.

His watering eyes turn to look at the hanging figure once more and he dry heaves.  He has no love for that wretch but Razzel was in earnest when he said if the man cooperated he would turn the errant wizard over to his people for justice.  What a horrid way to go.

Finn looks up at the big beast-man.  ”This isnt on you big guy.  Its on me.”


OOC:
Well shit.  Ready to go back to camp.

Rondald grimmaces as the Minotaur goes to work. True, they owed nothing to this madman, and mad mages were dangerous, but why not just kill him humanely? Then it happened. It was over so fast, the suddenness hit him. He sighed deeply, not because he was dead, but how he died.

"We will have to head upstairs to get back to the animals..." he says numbly as if to change the topic.

"Come on big fella. Sometimes I am glad I know little of the ways of mages."

He shoulders what he can and continues out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:04, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

It had happened in the blink of an eye.

One moment there was a man, a flesh and blood man, with parents, and dreams, and fears, and a story of his own. An evil man, yes. A man who had caused much pain and suffering, but a man who was one of Gods creatures all the same. A man who was helpless, and afraid.

The next moment, there was most of a man. The arcane energies possessed by the weapon he held, an object that he did not begin to understand unleashed upon the prisoner before him. There was a little bit of the man on the floor, a little bit of sticky gristle nestled in the recesses of his mail.

Everything about it was ugly. The look on the face of the Minotaur when he had realized what had happened. His fumbling with the mace, and the lanyard, and his gloves as Mika'il died. The way everyone seemed to know it was in vain, but had tried to help in their own token way.

The reassurances, although they were sincere, rang hollow.

Magnus stared down at the ruined form in the man, on his knees in the blood, and looked as though he might weep.

Doubt assailed him.

Should he have protested more? He had known it was not safe. He had spoken up about it. Judoc had known as well. But he had shut up and done it anyway, a good soldier. Was he a good solider? Or just some hired killer, out here because all he had ever been good for is hurting people, or scaring them.

Was it because he had not been careful enough? Had he not realized the danger? Like a big, dumb animal with one of those guns that Gustav had talked about over the fire? He had nearly taken Bjorn's hand off just the other day for God's sake, and now he had torn a man apart with an errand swing. Was he that clumsy?

Or would his friends think that he had wanted to kill him. Would they wonder? If that dead eyed shark that swam behind his eyes when steel was drawn, when blood flowed and sweat poured, if it was nearer to the surface than they had guessed?

All of these, and dozens more.

He knelt there for a time, until he allowed Rondald to pull him away, and he shuffled mutely where he was led, blinking dumbly and trying to look competent as he struggled to find the words that eluded him.

Gustav also placed a hand on The Minotaur's shoulder It was not you, I think that God guided your Mace, it was Mika'il's time to answer for his sins. God be merciful, he was sorely misguided.

Judoc watches in stony silence as Magnus follows orders. The young mage has already voiced his opposition to this endeavor, seeing it as torture for their enemy, but even he is shocked by what actually transpires. He gasps as the mace smashes Mika'il's arm into pulp. "Stop, Magnus! You're killing him!" he cries out and rushes forward as fast as he can. Judoc is still weak from the previous battle, and he moves as though the air has turned to jelly, and by the time he gets to the apprentice's side, Mika'il is dead.

Quickly he begins summoning the mana around him, but even as the words form on his lips, he sees that it is too late.

"No . . ." he says in shock, his stomach numb. He has let this happen on his watch. He could have stopped it, could have arrested Magnus's swing, reasoned with Finn. Instead, Mika'il died screaming God's name.

Leaning on his staff, now ten times as weary as before, Judoc feels cold, his stomach twisted in a hundred knots. Mika'il had not been a good man, but then again, who really is?

"It's not your fault, Magnus," he says, his voice hollow. He puts a hand on the minotaur. "If anything, Mika'il signed his own death warrant."

OOC: After resting back at camp, Judoc will return to cremate the body and bury the remains.

The group recedes from the caverns, exhausted and injured, some significantly more than others though by some miracle the ramshackle group of the Minotaur, thief, mage, swordsman, sailor and his wife, and Northman have not taken any permanent injury, nor lost any of their number to this prison of horrors.  They make their way back to the stables unmolested, with their equipment and Boots still safely kept within, the massive bald spot on the horses's side the only evidence of the violence remaining.

Finn is keen to rest quickly so as to immediately go and rescue the horses, though as it would happen, fate would not be so kind.  Judoc rests much more quickly than the thief, his meditative trance funneling the mana from the surrounding air and earth.  And though Finn is keen to take some of Judoc's energy as had been the arrangement before, Judoc instead insists that he must return to the caves to immolate and bury the remains of Mika'il.  Magnus, somber and pensive, agrees to accompany Judoc and the two leave even as Finn protests, arguing that the horses are far more important, though Judoc is quick to counter that the gale outside is still so strong that Aiah (nor any bird) can take to the skies without significant risk to health and limb.

And so the two leave, while Finn seethes quietly, doing his best to imitate Judoc's meditative pose though all he can think of is Mika'il burning up his precious spell book in an inferno.

Hours later, the rain has stopped and the gale has calmed down to a stiff breeze, the thick dark clouds above thinning just slightly and now slim bands of light seem to make their way down through narrow passes in the grey.  Aiah is able to locate the horses almost immediately once she launches herself from the trees in the forrest, huddled in a group near the edge of the valley, grazing happily on the roughage of the valley.

Though it takes time, the group manages to walk the horses back with no damage to either animal or rescuer.

By the time it is all said and done, the sun has begun to dip down below the rim of the mountain, snuffing nearly all the light from the skies instantly, as the low clouds still sit like a cover across the top of the valley.

"No, not tonight."  Terri's voice drifts across the stables, her arm still wrapped in a sling that goes up and over her collarbone, secured to her chest with another tight wrap.  The group had moved over across the hall once Finn's spell had finally ended, seeing as the other set of stables still had a door on it to keep in the heat.  "I think it's madness to open the cells at all, but doing it in the darkness is just asking for something to go wrong.  I'm not sure I'll be much of a help anyway with this arm though..."

It was the third time today, and the battle lines were already clearly drawn, Finn and Judoc for, with Magnus and Terri against opening up the cells of Perdition, with Rondald and Gustav waffling somewhere in between, with Bjorn intently ignoring the conversation, instead scraping the flat portion of his whetstone against his axes for an hour at a time, the thick thhhhhhhhhht! of the grinding metal seemingly timed for important moments of the conversation.

Finn had already made significant headway with the tiles, realizing that each of them could be combined with another, changing the picture so that the animal on the front of the two tiles combined were locked in combat.  This could be done with four of the tiles as well, though when all six of the tiles were combined, the animals themselves were completely removed and were replaced with the facade of a red dragon, nostrils brimming with flame.  For Finn, it was a sign not of the danger of the inhabitants, but of the significance of the treasure within...

OOC:  Ok, Fast forwarded for a bit.  It is now 1700, and the sun has not set yet, though it has started to darken within the valley due to the high valley walls and the clouds overhead.  I took some liberties, though one I was not willing to assume was healing.  There are several within the party who are significantly injured, including Gustav who is half move and dodge, who would probably be healed prior to this point.  If he wasn't it doesn't make a big difference to the story (the only difference is who and what number of spells have been cast today).  Finn and Judoc, let me know if you just want to heal everyone to full strength and I'll make it so (assuming the rolls are made).  I fast forwarded to the argument about opening the cells.  Finn and Judoc seem to be for, and Magnus and Terri seem to be against, opening anything, though the argument has shifted throughout the day.  Let me know a couple of things for each character:

1.  Do you want to open the cells (feel free to say this IC if you want)
2.  Do you want to open them tonight, or wait until the morning (when there is natural light, and after the healers have a renewal of their healing spells).

Finn, as the leader, you make the call for the group, though obviously if people feel strongly enough, the group can fracture based on the decisions people make.  Take as much or as little time Roleplaying as you see fit.

Rondald has been looking after Terri while the others disposed of the bodies, agreeing that it would not only be madness to open them at night, but also before all were fully healed. Instead, he suggests gathering the mounts and beasts to a safe place where they can discuss it. He himself is still undecided about leaving the contents for the next madman to come along though.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:20, Mon 20 Jan 2020.

Finn returns to camp in his usual style, oblivious to how close any of them came to permanently being maimed, or worse.  For the plucky thief-mage it was an exercise in superior skill and wit meets thick resistance.  Given enough poundings the wall would eventually break without harm to the swinger of the hammer.

But he is sullen.  While most feel some kind of remorse for the grisly way in which the necromancers assistant died, despite the consorter of daemons being a terrible person Finn is mourning the loss of the books.  He had been so sure that the apprentice carried his own copies of the sacred spell recipes.  On the brink of death Mika'il was not moved to reveal their location.  So either he was telling the truth that no such second set of books existed or he was arrogant in his deception.  And Razzel was determined that later in camp he would find out, one way or another.  But now with the mans unexpected death any chance of interrogation died with the man.

In camp Finn pouts.  He had very specific goals and does not take it well when the groups aims are not aligned with his own.  Finn had done much of the casting to mend his comrades before the big fight.  Healing torn skin, rejoining pieces of broken bone and restoring lost blood is a complicated process and usually transpires in order of ease.  The simplest repairs are done first.  So then mages typically find that each further casting becomes more and more difficult.  Following the battle Finn must rely upon Judoc for the bulk of the healing magic, but initially at least the professional mage has other plans, and Finn sulks making off handed comments just under his breath.  “...priorities...” and “...unprofessional...” can be heard.


At long last late in the day the group is reassembled and the animals are retrieved safely.  Now it is time to visit another touchy subject for which Finn has not been looking forward to.  Opening the cells.  Naturally its worth their efforts.  They, as a motley team have bested every obstacle in their path, but some among them don't share his desire for wealth.  Finn stands, hands on hips.  He speaks but he is ready for tough resistance.  ”You all know ma feelin's.  This...”, Finn waves a hand high in the air in a circle to gesture towards this ruins, ”...business of bein' a mercenary is dangerous business.  I aint that old an' I already put my neck on the line more times than I'd care to count.  I mean to retire, alive, an' young.  A stone's throw that way is somethin' that's been locked away for centuries.  The rarity of it alone is worth a small fortune.  If yer sc'erd 'a the big ones how 'bout the small ones?”


OOC:
I dont want to draw this out to a long, long debate.  We know where the characters stand.  As a group split about 50/50.  My dialogue was intended for RP flavor and not so much to delve into a deep RP back and forth about open the cells or not.

Finn knows 2 are against and 2 are on the fence.   If Finn has any chance of getting the team to open the cells its all or nothing.  Everyone must help or it cant be done.  He wants to take home loot but only with a full group and only under the best of conditions.  That means in daylight, when the group is fully rested and healed and ideally when Judoc and I haven't already done a bunch of healing.  This means tomorrow morning.

The cells are different sizes.  Some required 2 plates, some 4 plates and a few all 6 plates.  Finn suggests that we start by opening the 2 plate cells.  Presumably the smaller cells hold smaller monsters.  We can re-asses our desire to continue after each cell is opened.

If the holdouts still refuse then I suggest we pack up and go home, and each of us can move forward with post-adventure admin and our next adventure.

"It's not a matter of big or small Finn, Sadda was no bigger than a big house cat." The Minotaur gestured offhand in the vague direction of where their last battle had been, His tone was weary, with just a hint of pleading to the timbre. He then leaned forward from where he sat and put his hands together. "It's that we made it. We got the job done and everybody gets to go home. That's a good day, a real good day." he nodded as he said the last part.

"What do you think we're gonna find in there that's gonna be worth settin' somethin' loose that we can't handle. Some creature that can just...fly away, and kill how many people? Or worse, that is smart enough to settle down somewhere and make some really big plans?" he asked. "Think about the effort it took to get them here, to lock them away, all those Elves, all that magic. And here we are just just a hand full of us and no clue what's on the other side."

He leaned back and splayed his hands again. "Or...we do win, and let's say Terri gets killed, or me, or Judoc. What kind of treasure could be in there that'd make that worth it. What book, or weapon, or gem is gonna balance out Rondald havin' ta bury his wife? or Gustav gettin his face caved in? he gestured to each in turn. "It's a dangerous business, sure, we all signed up for it. But we've got a payday. We did good work. We should quit while were ahead."

OOC: Rondald would be willing to discuss this with Terri only under the condition that we are all whole before opening any further cells, but he is not so keen on convincing Terri as working with her to find a position she is comfortable with. Basically, he won't vote against her, but he is more in favour of opening cells than she is, so healing everyone, coming up with a good plan and convincing her is key to getting his vote.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:39, Tue 21 Jan 2020.

Gustav squirms with indecision, seeing both sides and agreeing with both Magnus and Finn to some extent. He absolutely won't go in the dark and won't go until recovered from his very nasty wound.

Once he arrived back at camp, Judoc had immediately adopted his meditative stance, resting quietly as the surrounding  mana hastened his body’s healing. He had pushed himself to the limit in the battles against Mika’il and the undead, and though what he really desires is a long, warm bath, a bottle of port, and the company of a comely young woman, he knows he will have to forgo the creature comforts for now until he returns to civilization. In the meantime, a whirl of priorities cycle through his brain: heal everyone’s wounds, administer last rites to Mika’il, and find the horses. Once they have recovered, then they can begin planning their assault on the prison cells.

After recovering his strength, Judoc decides to first attend to Mika’il over the protestations of Finn. ”This is something I have to do,” Judoc tells the Row agent, and the student hurries off to the catacombs. Partly he wants to make sure the necromancer is truly dead, but Judoc also feels that he owes Mika’il some form of respect. No one should have to die like that, screaming in anguish as their bones are shattered and their flesh is pulverized. Judoc himself had advocated for an impromptu execution, and he truly believes Mika’il had deserved death for the violence the apprentice had wrought, but what had actually happened sickened Judoc. He knew he could have stopped it, tried to reason with Finn, but Judoc had not, and the guilt of what has occurred weighed on Judoc as much as if he had delivered the killing blows himself.

The fire had not taken long to conjure, and as it burned, Judoc pondered what to say. Mika’il had died screaming Allah’s name, not Sadda, and Judoc wasn’t much of a theologian, but Muslins, Christians, and Jews were all people of the Book, and Judoc figured Mika’il deserved something in the way of a last prayer.

Clearing his throat, Judoc says, ”I don’t really know what to say here. It usually sounds so easy in a funeral mass.”

Thinking for a moment, Judoc speaks what comes to mind. ”God—Allah—this man was our enemy, but he was deceived by evil and has paid for his transgressions. Whatever awaits him on the other side, may he find peace in the end.” The words were harder than Judoc had thought.

Once the flames consume Mika’il’s remains, Judoc extinguishes them with another spell. ”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” he says, and then, looking to Magnus, he says, ”Let’s get back to the others, big guy.”

After returning, Judoc immediately begins healing whoever needs his ministrations, resting as he needs to. Concentrating, he seeks to regain contact with Aiah, with whom he had been unable to contact in the catacombs.

Now the group weighs their next move. They have succeeded in stopping Mika’il from opening the prison cells of Perdition, and though Judoc suspects that Sadda had ulterior methods in having the cells open, Judoc can’t help but wonder if the story Mika’il told them was true, that Perdition also holds until wealth within its bars.

”I agree, Terri, not tonight. We need to rest and recover first, and it would be better to face the cells in the daytime as well.”

The form of the dragon the tiles create mesmerizes Judoc. With great risk comes great reward, Judoc thinks, but can this group defeat a foe as great as a dragon, or whatever evil the tiles might e foreshadowing? He looks around the group. He has never been part of such a group that combines the abilities of the martial and magical arts as these seven do. ”If we don’t open these cell doors, then someone else is going to,” he says. ”The Templars, or the Row, or the Megalan Army—but they’d need these tiles first. It’s going to be tough, I know. If that giant lizard was locked away in one, then other powerful creatures may be within. The place was supposed to be a prison, once upon a time. But I think Mika’il was speaking the truth—there’s likely a fortune locked within those doors, if we can defeat whatever guards and prisoners might be within. We could leave now with the little we’ve been able to scrape together, or we could else’s what’s inside. It’s likely going to be very dangerous, but the greater the risk, the greater the reward.”

OOC: It was my intention to heal injuries first, but Judoc will begin casting healing spells once he returns, healing anyone he needs to heal. If Terri’s arm needs a Restoration spell, Judoc will need to wait for his powerstone to recharge.

Judoc will use Diplomacy to try to sway Terri and Bjorn to agree to open the rest of the cells.

Finn stands against the wall chewing on a piece of hard dry cheese as he soaks in the words of his big bull headed friend.  He expected the words.  The caution, the warnings of danger.  But there is something there he did not expect.  The mood.

Razzel stews in contemplation while Judoc implores the others to risk it all for what wonders lay behind those doors closed up for centuries.  In truth Finn only half listens.  Not because he knows Judoc is aligned with his own attitudes, but because the agent of the Row is soul searching over the message from the minotaur.  His face is a mask of pensive reflection.

When the battle mage concludes Finn comes to center stage.  There is a smile about his wily face though the happy look is different from his normal glow, this upside down frown is a bit dimmed.  ”My friends, its clear to me that we just ain't gonna agree.  No 'ffense Magnus...”, the mage-thief says as he turns to his friend, ”...but you an' me see this as about as different as the tortoise and the hare.  I look at them doors an' see treasure.  You look at 'em an' see death.  An' I ain't willin' to risk endin' our friendship over it.”


OOC:
Its pretty clear to me that a few of the group feel strongly about risking opening the doors, and a few others feel just as strongly that the risk isn't worth it.  I don't want to spend a month of real time debating to in the end decide not to try.  Also, I don't want to convince the hold outs to try but at the cost of bad blood.  Finn sees the writing on the wall, some as against it and there is no changing their mind.  Since they cant be coerced there is just no easy way to get everyone to do it willingly.

To this end I have thrown in the white flag to the GM.  I've told him to begin preparations to close up the module.  I am going to roll Merchant to evaluate the loot in the Group Loot thread.  I suggest anyone with Merchant also do so.

And so, with Terri and Magnus dead set against storming the cells of Perdition, Finn gives a momentary thought to trying the discussion again in the morning, though even now he knows that Magnus is not to be dissuaded and that any such discussion is still likely to end in frustration.  He sets himself for the disappointment of leaving without whatever treasure lays resting in the vaults, though he checks his pack to ensure himself that he still has all six plates, just in case he decides to come back some time in the future.

Resetting their enchanted mist, the group sets themselves up for the night, finishing the last remaining healing for those who still have ills and starting the watch with Magnus himself as the rest of the group lays down to rest...

Bjorn stirs within his blankets... though he rests, he has no expectation of sleep.  After all, his watch is next and the thoughts that are burning through his mind are not the type that will be put off until the morning.

Bjorn is furious.

It would probably have been enough just to have to listen to Finn drone on about accepting peace with each and every thing they encounter.  The abomination, who looked like he had been sewn together by the flesh of corpses, Finn had been particularly adamant about and had scolded Bjorn quite publicly.  It had happened again, in the underground, with the diseased things that had been sleeping in a hovel of their own shit.  They had attacked, quite outright the moment anyone had set foot within the cave and even still Finn had squirmed and protested when Bjorn had finished the work that they all had started.

Fool.

Certainly Finn was green.  His oafish, constant bragging were enough proof of that.  But Bjorn was surprised to find that he had a deathwish.  What else could you call it when he would willingly allow an enemy to live just feet from where they would make their camp?  Bjorn shakes with frustration even as he feels the hand of Magnus pushing on his shoulder.

"I'm up."  Bjorn mumbles, pushing himself out his blankets.

Yes.  Finn would have been enough to set Bjorn's fury alight - but it was the others who had made the Northman lose all his faith in the group.  The squabbling, the endless discussions, the treachery.

Bjorn glances down at Magnus, now resting on the hard stone floor, needing nothing but his own fur to keep him warm.

What else could you call it but treachery?  It had happened the once, when they had been stormed in the small clinic.  Bjorn had run to the front, hacking and slashing his way through the lines of enemies that had come at them.  And what had Magnus and Rondald done?  Gone straight to the back of the room, smacking their weapons against the wall rather than their foes who were bearing down with every stroke.  Bjorn had forgiven that incident, happy with their explanation of clearing a path away from the building, making a route of escape... much as Bjorn would have been happy with the more direct fight.

But it had happened again, down in the caves, with the monster of bone.  Magnus had been the first to face him, sure - which was all well and good with Bjorn, who had taken the distraction to smash through the joinder of bones and sinew with his happy axe.  Though as soon as Bjorn had distracted the thing's attention, what had Magnus done?  He had run to the back of the room, focusing his attention on a rat-sized bird that had not done them even a spit of damage.  Meanwhile, Bjorn had faced the thing alone with Rondald fiddling with his crossbow, a stone's throw away from the fight.

It was time to face it.  Bjorn was working with cowards, and he was not about to find what else was lurking within the prisons knowing he was the only one who was going to take the beating for it.

No.  He would leave, and take his due.  Now was as good a time as any.

Bjorn glances at Magnus, who rustles on the floor - somewhere close to sleep.

The only question was what to take.  It was clear enough that he deserved the most of the loot - though carrying it would be the difficult part.  He wouldn't take the weapons, for they were far too heavy.  The obvious choice was the onyx jewelry, though Terri was still wearing the majority of the set on her person, and the woman slept lightly enough that Bjorn wasn't about to tempt fate by trying to remove it.  Of what was left, the plate sized skull and scythe symbol, a relic of the God Nerull no doubt, was probably about right for Bjorn's cut, that along with the bulk of the gold coin they had dug from the excrement smeared on the walls of the lower caverns...

A glance at Magnus proves the Minotaur has started to snore and Bjorn goes about the work of stashing his horde into his blanket, then rolling the whole of it up and putting it back into his pack.

With a wayward glance backward, Bjorn looks about the stables at all his sleeping comrades.  He thinks for a moment about taking one of the horses... Boots likely... though he shrugs off the thought as he walks out the stable door.  He was no thief.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

The morning comes with confusion as the sun rises, Terri first, for she has a habit of waking at first light.  For the vast majority of our adventurers had never been woken to stand their watch and Bjorn was missing.  The first thought was concern, even Finn cursed himself for a moment, telling everyone he had been sure that Mika'il would play them wrong, that he was alive, that he had been right all along about disabling and gagging the wizard, that they had all been fooled.  Of course Judoc shoots down the comment, assuring Finn that Mika'il was still quite dead the previous day when Judoc had returned, not to mention that he had incinerated the body to mere ash prior to leaving.

It is only a quarter of an hour later, while most others are searching the close areas of Perdition that Finn notices the treasure that is missing...

After a calling everyone back and assessing what is left, the decision is made to leave the barbarian, to let him go off on his own (and Gustav adds, perhaps they will see him again, dead with his treasure in hand, or eaten by one of the carnivorous plants that speckle the valley on the road towards home).  Still, Finn decides that the treasure horde is not yet enough, and he directs everyone back down to the excrement smeared room of the savages to try and pull all the remaining treasure from the walls within.  This time, the group has the foresight to bring all of the digging tools from the other side of the complex, where the Wazifis had cut the tunnel through the earth.

Only the surprise of another two of the little savages, gnawing on the flesh of their fallen comrades, delays the work of clearing out the room.  Though this delay proves almost negligible, for Rondald spears one of them in the chest with a crossbow bolt as soon as the two beasts begin their charge, and the other, his head smashed off the rim of Magnus's new massive tower shield as he charged, is made quick work of by Gustav's black blade, which cuts the beast nearly in two just below the ribcage.

The work is unforgiving, the environs rancid.  Still, Finn's decision proves not without merit, for several small caches are found whose spoils include five potions and several handfuls of copper, silver and a sprinkling of gold coin.  Finn (carefully, after wiping away the shit) takes the smallest sip of each of the potions, knowledgeably declaring them in order potions of haste, great healing, clairaudience, ESP, and water breathing.

Still, the work takes the whole of the day, and when the six finally break back above the surface, finally breathing in fresh air as opposed to stagnant feces, the sun is already well below the mountains, and the group returns to the stables, carrying the spoils of their horrid work.

This time, the night goes as expected, with all the watches being taken, and each adventurer being woken in turn.

The next morning, Finn declares that they will clear out the remnants of the upstairs, though an hour and a half into their labors, they have little to show for their work.  All of the rooms on the outside walls seem to have been ransacked, and most follow the standard:  bedroom, living room, garden, closet, hallway, privy pattern they had already seen in the rooms that Khaldun's men had been occupying.  Only twice is the pattern disturbed, once when the doorway opens up into a sort of storage room, where stone and wood and tools of various sorts sit rotting from hundreds of years of stagnancy and again, near the corner of the monastery, Where Finn unknowingly walks in upon the burrow of a sleeping, enormous skunk, likely larger than a grizzly bear.  Having had his fair share of experiences with the normal sized sort, Finn backs off of the engagement slowly, avoiding waking the thing and his likely murderous brand of stink.

Magnus pushes in the last of the doors, expecting little more than another ransacked set of quarters, and indeed he finds himself in another long hallway with three doors running along the opposite side.  However, this time, the etherial shape of an elf stands in a corner, and when it notices the minotaur, the thing charges with full speed, its sword raised for a strike!



OOC:  It is 0930 on the 17th of May.  You spent all yesterday digging through shit in the lair of the little gremlins, and saw two more of them, though the fight wasn't worth playing out.  The spoils from that room include 924 Copper, 238 Silver, and 15 Gold pieces and another 5 potions, described above.  Magnus is the only one in the hallway with the etherial being, and the other characters do not yet see it.  You are in your normal marching order of Magnus Finn Gustav Judoc Terri Rondald.  Please give me 2 seconds of action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:56, Mon 16 Mar 2020.

Rondlad is impressed at how Finn seems attracted to anything that stinks. After a day of shit work, literally, and now finding a giant skunk, Rondald asks the mage if he would not prefer to keep the thing as his pet.

As they move on and can joke about it further, he sees Magnus suddenly stop as he rounds a corner. Cursing, he glances behind them to make sure there is no threat there before excusing himself as he moves past his wife and any others to assist his big friend...axe and shield ready.

[OOC: Axe and shield ready, check our six them move forward as far as folk will let him. Assuming there is no threat behind them...]

Throughout the day Finn's mood is light and at times happy.  Yes, he is scraping decades, perhaps centuries, of dried feces from a wall which crumble and scatter dust like all around him, he is thrilled at the bigger picture.  Sadda and Mika'il have been handedly defeated.  The others can travel back to the captain and report that the intel was correct but the threat has been decidedly squashed.  And while Bjorn made off with his share and summarily robbed them of his strong arm and ax the group continues to squeeze loot out of this ancient and long forgotten place.  But the real prize lays ahead.  The cells.  All throughout the day Finn has an almost glazed look about his face as he repeatedly daydreams of what will be in the vaults.  A magical talking bow?  A flying horse?  Enchanted rings that make the wearer smarter, or invisible, or more handsome?  Or dare he dream...spell books!!!

Razzel doesn't really expect to find anything in these above ground rooms.  Khaldun, Munt and the others lived here for months and likely anything of value has already been ripped from the foundation.  But one never knows and since they've budgeted for the food they might as well look after making the long and dangerous trip.

The game of hide and seek goes as expected until Magnus freezes in his tracks momentarily.  Curious but unable to see the cause Finn draws his new blade.  The natural weapon of a con man in a city is the long knife.  One of high quality such as Finn owns is almost as good as a long cumbersome blade that nearly touches the ground from a mans hip.  Against men wearing a cloth jacket instead of heavy leathers or a mail jerkin it does just fine.   But out here in the wild against seasoned warriors and monsters a knife just isn't sensible.  Finn has been practicing with the long blade in his spare time but that has been few and far between his magical pursuits.  But now is the time he reckons.  After all, how hard could it be?  He pulls the thing free of its scabbard and it wobbles in his hands.



OOC:
Draw the Fine sword.  If there is room move to beside Magnus.

Gustav had been getting tired of wandering through this empty derelict set of buildings with his sword up and shield on his arm, but he remembered the Ghost and other surprises.  He didn't notice Magnus stop, but was startled to alertness by Rondald pushing to get past and Finn jumping to the front.  He came on guard to Finn's Right so his shield partially protected him from whatever was coming.

That's probably two moves.  I rolled for awareness (die on my desk) and felt 13 wasn't very alert.

When Judoc realized that Bjorn had absconded with as much gold as the Northman could carry, the young mage had raged with anger. ”That sorry son of a bitch,” he had spat, eyes glaring. How dare Bjorn steal from them? Who did he think he was? Judoc had risked his life by healing Bjorn when Bjorn had been badly injured, and Bjorn had repaid Judoc by slipping away in the night with a lion’s share of the treasure.

But based on Finn’s assessment of what remains of the treasure, Bjorn had only taken approximately his share of what had been found, and Judoc began to calm down. Bjorn was either a coward or had had enough of Perdition, and though Bjorn’s ability with an axe would be missed, Judoc had finally relaxed.

When Finn has suggested they return to the feces-encrusted subterranean cavern, Judoc had nearly gagged at the thought. Sure, they had found more treasure, so at least it was worthwhile, but Judoc found the process disgusting.

Now, as the group explores the rest of the prison, Judoc wonders if Mika’il had some alcove somewhere furnished with what he had scavenged. That the necromancer had no grimoire surprised Judoc, and he still curses that it was his fire that had burned up Haj-umr’s spellbook. He had been so focused on protecting their retreat with his fire spell that he had paid no attention to Finn’s pack, left behind when the Row agent had gone out to negotiate.

When Magnus halts, Judoc grips his staff in two hands, ready for whatever trouble is up ahead.

OOC: Ready staff.

Magnus had been in relatively good spirits. This was just "clean up" now, and soon they would be bound for home.

So it was that when they were ambushed, all he could think to do was to get his shield up in time to buy him a few seconds.

Though Magnus is quick to remember the fading illusions they had encountered two days ago, one of an elvish being just as this -  not to mention the illusionary figure of Gustav hanging from the ceiling, he nevertheless redoubles his defenses, bringing his shield up in front of him to swat away the sword of his semi-translucent attacker.

Of course, the placement of his defense is good, and the sword swings down, smashing into the shield with herculean force, though the brunt of the blow never comes... instead, the mass of the sword dissipates into eddies of air, flowing around and through the shield, giving the minotaur an immediate feeling of frigid cold that penetrates his armor and fur with ease...  It saps his strength for a moment, making him stumble back.  It is but a moment more and the wraith, his arm, and his sword congeal again into semi-permanence, and the thing continues forward with hate written plainly across it's face!

Finn rushes forward through the door, stepping in behind the thing as Gustav follows close behind...

After looking back behind them, Rondald rushes forward too, trying to edge his way between Gustav and Judoc, though there doesn't seem to much much of anywhere to go...

OOC:  Thanks for the patience guys.  Magnus, while your defense was 'successful' it didn't seem to deflect all the damage from the phantasmal being's attack.  You haven't taken any physical damage, though you definitely feel drained, and your arm feels like ice despite the layers of the shield, armor, and fur.  Really, this is two rounds, though it is written as oneish.  Rondald simply couldn't push his way through everyone after taking a second to look back behind everyone and make sure they weren't being flanked.  Finn and Magnus are really the only ones with a decent shot of an attack at the thing, though there is a little room in the hallway for an extra person to try and get a swing in.

Frustrated, Rondald looks around. There seems nothing he could do. The thing did not seem real, so it was clearly some sort of magic...wait, that must be it!

"Can any magic weapons hit it?"

He looks around, making sure behind them is safe.

"Terri, please help me keep an eye out for other danger...I hope it is not just a distraction."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:57, Mon 03 Feb 2020.

Magnus let out an ugly sound as the spectral blade seemed to pass through him, and a tremor seemed to wrack his great frame for a moment before he forced himself back into motion.

At Rondalds question, and with the mace in hand, he tried just that and swung at the apparition with brute force.

Finn of course didn't feel what Magnus felt.  The icy cold.  The sensation of other worldliness albeit briefly.  But Razzel had seen enough of this place to know that almost everything here, in this ancient prison gone wrong that all defied the normal rules elsewhere in the world.  Just one look at the dog sized ants and beetles and the man eating giant plants was enough to understand that.  So Finn assumes nothing and throws himself into the attack.


OOC:
Come up behind the ghost and back stab!

Gustav pushes Finn further into the Hall so he can stab with his new sword, he is sure there is not enough room to swing it.

"Magic - an excellent idea, Rondald." Stepping back to let Gustav by, who seems to be pushing in, Judoc begins pulling in mana from around him, channeling it into flame.

OOC: Take one step east. Take right hand from staff. Concentrate.

Gustav's heart quickens as his hand leaps to the pommel of his sword, he can feel his pulse beating through his very fingers.  Oh, he has played with the black sword and he has tested the fine balance and its keen thrusting edge but he has yet to use the blade in real combat.  Nudging Finn forward with his shield, Gustav pushes his way into the narrow hallway, the black sword singing a clear, high note as it is pulled from the sheath.

Magnus stumbles backwards, bringing his shield back into position as he hurls his mace forwards, the blow is just errant, the ghostly thing having to merely shift its position to avoid the blow.  Again, the ghostly sword lashes out and Magnus stumbles backwards again, though he is not quick enough, and he only barely gets his shield to clip the edge of the sword.  Again, the thing dissipates into swirls of color where the shield strikes it, but the rest of the weapon continues on, striking Magnus square in his mail shirt!  The weapon pierces Magnus like ice, sucking away with warmth from his flesh and making his heart skip a beat as it flutters in protest against the cold.

Magnus nearly stumbles to a knee, though he catches himself, retreating backwards again to try and put some distance between himself and the ghast.  But the two swordsman, Finn and Gustav now have a clear shot at the apparition.  Finn attacks first, his attack a determined swing using the diagonal of the hallway, trying to keep the cut away from Gustav as well as the close confines of the hallway.  Though much like Magnus's shield, when Finn's blade hits the foe it merely swipes through it like air, it's body fading and congealing back again to the same spot it once stood.

As for Gustav, things go quite more unexpectedly...  He thrusts forward with his weapon in a vicious stab... and this time, unlike Finn's attack, the weapon hits with solid impact, tearing through the ghost's semi-transparent flesh with ease.  The ghost shrieks in some ancient tongue, though it is only just as loud as Gustav's own scream.

Shock waves of pain streak through Gustav's form, spasming through every limb and finger.  And though he knows the unintended shriek of pain comes from his own lips, it cannot explain the stereo effect he is feeling in each of his ears, as if there were three screams, instead of just the two.  Revulsion comes with the pain and it is all Gustav can do to keep himself focused on the enemy ahead, who even now is turning back towards his direction...

Outside, Rondald and Terri turn, staring down the wide stone walkways to see if there are any other monsters approaching.

OOC:  No map this time due to the crappy wireless I'm working off of.  Gustav did manage to injure the thing, though it seems not without some other side effects of his own.  Gustav, roll vs. HT plus any fit bonuses or suffer physical stun from the bizarre effect.  Magnus took a rather bad hit on the first turn, though managed to completely dodge the attack on the second.  He is now at half move/dodge/ST, though that does not affect his damage from attacks.  Judoc has stepped into the room and has prepared a 2 point fireball, though he does not yet have any aim bonuses.  Judoc is at range 3 and may step and aim next turn.  Magnus/Finn/Gustav are all at range 1.

He makes his HT
This message was last edited by the player at 04:14, Wed 05 Feb 2020.

This ghost is clearly not like the others they have hitherto encountered. Those other apparitions vanished at a touch, but this seems to have the ability to do real harm. Judoc cannot help but be fascinated by the specter's sword. What could power its energies? Is it fully here in the real world, or does it occupy some other plane of existence?

And then Gustav screams in anguish as his blow strikes true! "The sound of ultimate suffering," Judoc murmurs, and then, louder, he yells, "Fire in the hole!"

OOC: Step forward towards the ghost. Attack the ghost with the fireball.

Finn has had his hands in many pies and seen many things in his relatively young life but he's never seen anything like this.  A real ghost!  It doesn't take long for the plucky mage-thief to realize that Rondald's suggestion is right on the money.  Finn spins to move out of the way as best he can, all the while wiggling a few fingers and murmuring a few words.


OOC:
If I can scrunch myself get out of the way so that Gustav has a clear shot.

Seeing Finns blade pass through him, Rondald curses, and puts his own mundane axe away. He steps in, and, seeing the thing looking at Gustav, attempts to aid him in defence.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:05, Wed 05 Feb 2020.

Magnus, gasping and trembling, retreated a few more steps behind the line while the others joined the fray. Whatever had occured had shaken him badly and he just seemed to be trying to stay on his feet.

Gustav is startled by the Pain that hits him ... But training kicks in, no way he is going to let this thing hit the others, given the additional room he has with Finn slipping back  he keeps the shield up and swings.

Surprised the vigor of the apparition, Magnus stumbles backwards, his shield raised in a defensive position as his hooves prepare for another swat of the thing's sword, but the blow does not come, and instead the thing turns, its weapon raised against Gustav instead.  The sword descends like a lead weight, though Gustav brings his own sword to bear, and the two weapons strike midair with a steely cling!, stopping the ghostly blade in a way that Magnus's shield had been unable.

Like a blur, Gustav's on blade strikes out again, moving downward from his parry to slash across the ghost's exposed ribs.  The sword connects again, splitting the elf's midsection into a ribbon of crimson that ripples outwards, splattering out against the walls before dispersing into eddies of air.   The elf screams!  Falling to one knee, the ghost's sword dips as his whole form seems to waver midair...

Gustav too seems to get the worse end of the deal.  Even as the ribbon of shiny, translucent blood flashes out from where his sword tip has passed, the swordsman himself feels dull, throbbing pain that ripples its way up his arm and through his chest, swelling until a point where it is unbearable.  Before his sword is even finished with the arc of his cut, Gustav is vomiting, a greenish bile streaked with red that passes straight through the kneeling apparition (deforming the elf's body for a moment into swirling currents of air) before splattering across the stone floor.

Immediately, Gustav's eyes defocus - the pain shearing his vision in two as he struggles to keep his feet, his sword dipping dangerously low...

Rondald, unbidden, charges through the doorway, his only thought to saving his friend Gustav.  Though the way is narrow, and on the way he has no choice but to shove roughly past Judoc, who stands in the doorway, and Finn, who stands at Judoc's side...  Though he does not get there in time to lend aid to Gustav.

"Shit!"  Judoc as the sailor charges through, barely editing the throw of his magical fireball in time to avoid hitting Rondald straight in the back.  Now, the throw sails just right, missing the ghost and forcing Magnus to bring up his shield in defense as the fireball vaporizes into a thick flame across the face, rendering a thin char across the surface.

OOC:  Just a cautionary word Rondald to avoid metagaming.  On the last turn, you were outside the room, and facing out (expecting an ambush) so you didn't see Finn's blade pass through the ghost.  You would however, have heard Gustav's scream, so I'll allow the all out charge action with dropping your axe prior as a free action somewhere in the middle.  Rondald is now next to the ghost, with his shield in his left hand and an empty right.  Judoc's fireball barely missed the ghost and vaporized on Magnus's shield about six feet behind and Finn's spell was successful against Gustav despite Rondald shoulder-checking him out of the way.

Gustav seems to only be getting more and more affected by the combat, and is now at half move and dodge.  Gustav, roll vs. HT one more time, with all normal Fit bonuses.

That was one second.  Let's do 2 seconds of action this time.

Rondald, shield raised, saw Magnus in trouble as well. Keeping the momentum, he kept pushing through past the apparition to help Magnus, to try to give him some cover, and to get out of Finns way.

"Magnus, you able to keep fighting, or do you want to step back and I can cover you? Gustav has the mages to help him...but if you step back, can I use that mace to beat it?"

[OOC: Sorry, I was under the impression he could see something of the fight, even if looking down the other side of the wall primarily, out of peripheral vision. Even apart from that, the screaming I assumed would have gotten his attention.]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Thu 13 Feb 2020.

Gustav staggers backward, struggling to keep his feet and bumps into Judoc.

"It's tied up!" Magnus shouted back with rising concern in his voice. Indeed, the Mace was firmly tethered to his wrist by a sturdy leather thing.

The Minotaur continued to backpeddle away, not taking his eyes off the spectral form, and obviously wary of being struck again.
.

Finn has seen many things in his days but nothing quite as scary and wondrous as a spectral form that cannot be harmed by everyday cold steel, and that seems to have a weird connection with its attackers.  Lacking a solid plan Razzel acts by instinct.  He waggles a few fingers and reaches out for the swordsman.


OOC:
Cast then touch Gustav.

Ghosts. What a very strange business. Judoc had assumed that this phantom was like the others, that it could be dispersed simply by passing a weapon through its form. That assumption had proved wrong.

And what was causing Gustav to be incapacitated as he was? Fascinating. Judoc wishes he had spent some time studying the phenomenon of spirits linked to this world. He is certain that magic will banish it, but as his fireball grazes Magnus's shield, Judoc realizes that throwing fire missiles around in such an enclosed space is inviting regret.

His staff gripped in both hands, he takes a step back, ready for the ghost to make a move.

OOC: Take one step back. Wait.

For a moment, both Gustav and the vaporous wraith seem to stumble...  Gustav vomiting a retched pulse as his feet stutter backwards, the ghost falling to a knee, it's sword dipping, seeming for a moment to be less of a threat.

though that moment is short lived, and in only the blink of an eye the tables turn, all in one direction.  Gustav's feet cease to move, his body now toppling backwards like a fallen oak, the black sword and his small shield clattering out of his hands and onto the stone floor below.  Nearly simultaneously, the wraith stands back on both feet, his sword slashing out at the closest mark, Rondald, who finds himself pressed with his back against the wall and unable to effectively move.  Though his shield is barely in place in time, Rondald fares the same fate as Magnus, with the sword passing partially, if not cleanly through the wooden aegis before striking Rondald just below the hem of his jacket.

Though there is not an ounce of blood, nor the narrowest of cuts that form from the strike, Rondald feels the icy dagger cut cleanly through his skin, draining the warmth from his bowels and upper legs so fiercely that his genitals retreat back into his body in an instant looking for warmth.

Rondald staggers as he sidesteps again, narrowly dodging the next blow...  the blade flickering just higher this time and shimmering briefly as it seems to pass vaporously through the folds of his leather.

Meanwhile, both Finn and Judoc immediately look toward their fallen comrade. Finn crouches down to place a hand on the swordsman and is struck by the pallor of his face.  He is wan, pale, with spidered, blue veins crawling up his face that have never been there as far as the thief has seen.  He reaches out with his left hand as he gestures, sending healing energies into Gustav which seem to settle some of his color, though the swordsman does not wake.  Judoc too, places his staff on Gustav, chanting a word of healing, which seems to succeed, though again the man does not wake.

On the other side of the room, Magnus steps back again, pulling on the strap of his mace with his shield hand as he tries to grip the thing back with his right to hand it over to Rondald.

"Gustav!"  Terri groans as she enters the room at the doorway, her voice pallid, with her knife gripped in her left hand.

OOC:  Sorry Gustav, that last HT check was a conscious roll, which I probably should have mentioned.  As you have no hero points available, you are now unconscious and out of the fight, though significantly healed due to Finn and Judoc's ministrations.  Finn is kneeling (he had to change position to be close enough to heal) and the black sword is lying at Finn's side.  If he wished, he could drop his weapon and pick it up (ready it) next turn and stand on the turn after.  Judoc, I opted to have you heal Gustav, and though it brought him out of negative HP, he won't revive until after the fight is over.  Magnus, I realize only now that your lanyard was on your other mace and not your magic one.  That being said, since I allowed you to let it fall to the strap on the Bone Sovereign fight, I'm going to force it to be on for this fight as well.  You have grabbed the strap with your left hand and removed your right from the strap.  It will take two more turns to 'ready' the mace with your right hand and then hand it over to Rondald.

Let's do 2 more rounds of action.


This message was last edited by the GM at 03:23, Sat 15 Feb 2020.

Round One - bad dreams
Round Two - more bad dreams

"If you have the strength, hit him, while I try to distract him. At least he is leaving Gustav alone. The sword, it does not injure, it takes ones stamina, exhausting you...what the hell? We are out of your way now Finn, that fire may be better..."

He will focus on defence, not bothering with the obviously useless shield...happy just to hold the creatures attention.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:27, Sat 15 Feb 2020.

"Finn! Little Help!" Magnus did not have time to explain, but while he felt he had a shot at maybe stopping the blade like Gustav had done, he worried that actually striking the thing would leave him little better than the brave swordsman now was.

His hope was that he could keep it busy while Finn and Judoc blasted the thing into oblivion with their arcane powers.

For most of his relatively short life Finn had no regrets concerning his magical eduction, which is vastly different from someone like Judoc. Razzel didnt come from money.  He had no wealthy family members tucked away somewhere who could pay the staggering fees for years of professional tutilage.  Finn had to find teachers in the mean streets and dark alley ways of the city, and steal enough to pay them for their cloesly gaurded knowledge.  But in rare moments like this Finn wished he belonged to a college.  Oh the wonders of sifting through the library.  What treasures might he find on ghosts if the rows upon rows of books were open to him. The nature of the connection between this ghoul and his friends was tantalizingly curious and for a breif moment the plucky thief-mage was jealous of the professional mage.

Finn looks down at the beautiful black blade.  Time slows.  He knows what he must do, almost as if this moment were destined to happen.  He needs to save his friends.  Without thought for his own safety his hand snatches out...


OOC:
Drop my sword and grab Gustavs blade.

Rondald, with his back pressed against the wall writhes to avoid the next blow, as the etherial sword cuts this way and then redirects, catching him off guard!  Rondald repositions his shield, trying to get any bit of defense between himself and the knife, though again it barely flecks off part of the weapon as the rest continues, set on a collision course again with his chest!  Though again, Rondald is saved by his magic jacket, and the weapon seems to flicker as it passes, giving Rondald only the sensation of cold as it is brought back to the en guard position.

Again the blade flicks out, though this time Rondald manages to move his body completely out of the way, his breath now coming in gasps as he tries to keep the thing occupied.

Magnus meanwhile grips his mace back with his good hand, unsure exactly how to continue... though at least for now the strap is off.  Perhaps Rondald would fare better than he had, though with the single direction the fight had gone so far, it seemed something had to change quickly.

Finn, as if taking the cue to act boldly, drops his own weapon with a clatter to the floor, reaching for the black sword.  Thoughts of glory, of victory in battle fill his mind as he grips the pristine weapon with thinly veiled greed, his eyes widening as he knows for certain how this combat must end.  Standing to his feet, he casts his magics with a single word, preparing himself mentally to face the thing which had taken down the more skilled swordsman with only a handful of swats.

Judoc, just a step behind casts his own magics, seeing the way clear for a moment he brings another ball of flame to his hand and takes a moment to prepare his throw.

"Nooo!"  Terri shrieks, her knife brandished in her left hand as she rushes past the mage and Finn, slashing wildly at the wraith with a blow that misses just wide.

OOC:  Nothing significant that turn.  Finn has the black sword readied in his right hand with an empty left and is standing.  Judoc has a fireball held in his right hand and his staff propped up with his left (unreadied).  Magnus has taken a moment to reready his mace (in order to parry), though the strap is no longer attached to his wrist.  Rondald has barely scraped out from suffering another hit, though he has managed to escape any injury this turn.  2 more turns of combat please

Its funny the difference between life and school.  Finn has heard people use the idiomatic expression “School of Hard Knocks” especially in cities where they are prominent schools.  In the classroom setting one learns what not to do in a safe environment.  A teacher often tells the student what is wrong and the consequences that would be incurred.  But on the mean streets there are no warnings.  There are no safe conditions.  Life pushes you around.  Some learn from it and grow.  Some do not and continue to be beaten over and over from the same mistakes.  And some die.

Its funny to Razzel the obstacles they have bested so far.  A mad daemon seduced wizard and his apprentice.  The demon itself.  And scores of minions acting upon the will of both villains.  And here in this moment they have run into a stone wall, in the form of just one warrior, who isn't even made of flesh and blood.  A ghost.  A relic of the past.  Gustav, their best swordsman lays unmoving and the companions other two best warriors are all but crippled.  This age long dead thing might just do them in.  Well, not now that Finn wields the magic blade.

Stepping forward Finn shouts ”Terri, move!”  His voice is slow and raspy.  Clearly the mage-thief is tired.  His casting have taken a toll on him.  But does he have enough left to fell this foul foe?  If you asked Razzel he would only laugh instead of answer with words.


OOC:
Step and Evaluate, repeat until I am in striking distance.

Rondald is experienced in combat, much more so than his wife. He ducks and weaves as he moves away, attempting to be rid of his useless shield as he focuses on staying away from the spectral blade.

"Terri, goddammit, get back! We are gonna need you to put us back together after this. He will tear you apart! Magnus, do you have the strength to hit it, or can you pass me that club if not?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Having freed the mace from its tether, Magnus darted forward to hand off the mace when Rondald was ready. He moved sluggishly, his arms heavy and legs unsteady as they weaved about the specter.

The elf swipes again at Rondald as the latter stumbles backwards, his shield lowered as he thinks only of getting out of the way of the phantom blade.  Magnus holds his mace forward for Rondald to grab, though the sailor seems entirely occupied and does not even look back to notice the attempt to hand the weapon off to him.  Again, the weapon cuts, upward and then redirecting down and this time Rondald cannot react in time and the tip of the blade cuts across his upper thigh, the cold, corrupting blade syphoning his strength and leaving his leg shaking and unsteady.

Terri thrusts out again, this time her knife connects in a brutal stab, though just as had happened to Finn's blade, the spot of the injury erupts into a whirl of vaporous color, seeming not to be even touched by the knife.  Terri squeaks her surprise, taking a step back before she is yelled at by Finn as well as Rondald.

"Get down Terri!"  Judoc shouts, and the woman drops to the ground, shuffling backwards with her one good arm as the mage's flaming dart sails over her shoulder, on a crash course with the center of the ghost's back.  The fireball hits, and seems to spread out through the center of the apparition, the magic burning the ghost from the inside as it expands to fill its whole volume.

The ghost shrieks, a piercing cry which makes even Magnus pause to try and cover his ears...  Though in a moment the whole transparent thing has disappeared into a wisp of whirling smoke.

OOC:  As much as I hate to have NPCs (or NPCed PCs) make the difference in a fight, Judoc beasted his roll for hitting, maxed out on damage, and the apparition basically crit failed his HT roll for consciousness... so I guess I should just let it go :p.  The good news is that no one is seriously damaged, just fatigued, as Rondald alluded to.  As a side note, Gustav will wake in a minute or two and can feel free to post again in the thread.  Searching the following rooms will yield the following loot:

a damaged tapestry
a sack of coin (100 copper and 50 silver)
3 small gems
rotting clothes
a gem-studded tiara
a small purse with 8 silver pieces a larger green stone
a silver candelabrum .
an etched crystal bowl
a handsome ring set with a deep red stone
and 4 gems
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Mon 17 Feb 2020.

Gustav comes around and shakily gets to his feet, he reclaims his sword, but isstill shaking his head  When I hit him, it was like it sucked life... well energy out of me.

He is interested in what the ring with the red stone is/does and the Green stone with the 10 SP, he assumes everything is somehow magical here.

Rondald thanked Magnus for offering the weapon, glad it was not needed in the end. He then went and checked on Terri, apologizing for shouting at her, but explaining that it as only out of concern, since she had neither magical armour nor weapon, and he had already messed up one fireball.

As folk recover, he is just glad that everyone is ok, and as they check out the loot, he has to question if it was worth it. It so very nearly went badly wrong, and that was just the ghost!
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Mon 17 Feb 2020.

"Yeah, I'm still shaky." Magnus agreed. "Saw what it did to you and figure I'd go down too if I tried it. Thank God for you guys" Magnus said and shot a look to Finn and Judoc. "Not sure what we would have done otherwise."

The Minotaur paced as his body warmed back up, the trembling in his limbs subsided and his breathing eased. In time he helped to search the rest of the chamber, frequently casting a wary eye over his shoulder for any more signs of the former residents.

Seconds after it had begun the ghost cried a foul pathetic scream and vanished into nothingness.  Finn stood there for a moment waiting to see if it was a trick and when the apparition appeared no more he decided the contest was over.  Had Judoc not destroyed it by fire surely Finn would have cut it in half with his new blade.

Moments later the Arraterrian swordsman stirs and sits up.  'When I hit him, it was like it sucked life... well energy out of me.', he says a bit groggily while reaching for his discarded weapon next to him.  But when he holds it up the thing doesn't look the same.  It takes the swordsman only a few blinks to connect the dots as he sees the black hilt of his claimed weapon riding on someone else's hip.  He clears his throat, then announces 'Finn.'

The plucky elected leader turns to face Gustav, a satisfied smile plastered about his face. ”Ya?  How ya doin' Gustav?”

The swordsman points to Razzel's belt.  Finn looks down.  Then back at the swordsman not seeming to understand.  Gustav musters the effort to climb to his feet as he shoots back. 'You've got my sword Finn'.

The ever optimistic mage-thief frowns slightly.  His gaze turns from one person to the next within the company hoping that someone, anyone, will side with him.  After all, what's that old expression, possession is nine tenths of the law?  But he finds no sympathy.  A bit sheepishly the agent of the Row draws the magnificent blade free and hands it over.


OOC:
Dont worry Gustav, I'm not trying to bogart your gift.  Its just a bit of role play.  While I know the sword is for you Finn isn't so gracious.  At least at first.  Hope you don't mind putting a few words in your mouth Gus, I apologize if I didn't get it quite right.

After gathering all the loot listed Finn will lead the party back to camp.  There we will rest.  Finn and whoever else that chooses can inspect the loot for a guess to its value (Merchant roll).  I would like to have Judoc and I inspect the loot to see if any of its magic.

Though all in the party are mostly unharmed by the ghost, it still takes some time for the group to put themselves together and head back to the stables to recoup their prizes and rest from their exhaustion.  Indeed, the only one who seems to have been injured at all is Gustav, who was never once touched by the blade of the apparition, but instead was the only one to hit it... an oddity which takes up much of the conversation as the six set down for an early lunch.  Finn heals the swordsman again, to make up for his brief moment of thickheadedness where he had attempted to make off with the black sword all together.

Somewhere around two hours later, the group sets off again.  By now the thick, boiling clouds overhead are unleashing another furious downpour, splattering hard against the stone of the courtyard which causes a cacophony of echoing noise as the six hurry their way up the courtyard towards the prisons of Perdition...  Finn smirks for a moment, thinking of the Northman Bjorn attempting to make his way alone in the downpour, though the thought is short lived, for his immediate afterthought is that it will be impossible to track the traitor after such a deluge.

In another moment, the six have made their way into the prison, Finn and Judoc feeling the same wave or shift in magic as they enter...

Though they have all seen the interior of the prison, Judoc is still enraptured by the columns of elementals, frozen in time and space seemingly ad finitem.  Most of the others though, make their way straight across the chamber towards the far wall of the prison where the cell of the giant lizard still stands open.

"Are we sure we want to do this?"  Terri murmurs nervously, her right arm still held fast in her sling, though her left hand grips her knife tightly.

OOC:  Ok gents, same deal.  You can choose a door or a key combination in order to try and open things up.  Let me know where you want to start.  As a reminder, the two doors on the south wall (bottom) take 6 keys, the east and west walls each take 4, and the five doors on the north(ish) wall all take 2, with the center door already being open.

Magnus looked nervous as he stepped back into the cavernous chamber, and swept his eyes across the doors barred against the ages. He tried to imagine this still being an inhabited prison, the guards walking the halls, knowing that behind those doors awaited some of the worst things in the known world. Their known world, now potentially forgotten by the current one.

The beast man was no coward, he had carried arms his entire adult life, he had killed men, and other stranger things. But he was a cautious soul by nature, so the whole enterprise, not knowing what was behind those doors, raised his hackles.

He was not about to abandon his friends, hell, Finn would likely open them with him or without him. So he stood in the silence, mentally girding himself for the moment when one of those ancient portals would yawn open after so long.

Rondald shared Terri's concerns, but did not want to let his friends down.

"Terri, please stay back. You are most vital, win or loose, in putting us back together. Whilst you can handle yourself in combat, that is not your strength. Please put the knife away and be ready to drag one of us out when we are badly injured."

He readies his crossbow, loading it and making sure it is cocked and ready...
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Gustav stood ready, sword on guard, but he trusted Finn less now... it was a cheap trick and he had lost respect for him doing that.


OOC - No Issues Finn, other than in character play, Gustav even gave you your knife back handle first.

Judoc feels the change in mana again, as he had before. He has read, of course, of zones of low mana and high mana, but he has never experienced one before that he knows of, and he cannot say whether he finds himself in a similar area or not. But if he is correct, and the four elementals are the prison's power sources, then perhaps the mana they channel is spilling out somehow into the chamber.

When they were here earlier, they had been focused on preventing Mika'il from opening the cells. The irony now that they are here to open the same cells is not lost on Judoc. Now that he stands here once again, a small niggling doubt whispers in his ear. There are so many doors. Will they be able to destroy whatever is within them? He thinks again of the giant lizard, and all of the dead Wazifi, and in spite of himself, he shivers.

Surveying the room, Judoc looks for places that might offer some kind of tactical advantage. He regrets not having Giles along for this journey, whose time in the military surely has taught him a thing or two about how to use a battlefield to one's advantage.

"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe," he murmurs, looking at the four closed cells to the north. "Let's aim for some kind of defensible formation, and then try Door Number One."

OOC: Judoc will try a default roll vs. Tactics to see if he can come up with the best way to approach each door.

"Good idea. Something small and less threatening..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:01, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Finn walks around the almost circular room with a rather smug expression.  He never thought he'd make it here.  The apprentice, the wazifi's hell bent on killing them and the daemon all put in their place.  Now with the field clear the mercenaries can focus on the business of getting rich.  And as one of Finn's previous partners was fond of saying, 'Brother, business is booming'.

He gives pause at the strange feeling as they cross the threshold of the prison proper and a side long glance from Judoc tells Razzel that he feels it too.  Could it be the mana?  While Finn lacked a paid education from a magical school he is learned enough to know that mages tap into the natural mana that is a part of everything, and they bend that mana to their will.  But some areas for whatever reason don't have enough or have too much mana.  Is this place one of those?

Finn is deep in thought concerning the up coming fight when Judoc pulls at his attention by mentioning a defensible formation.  Instantly the plucky mage-thief knows what he wants to do.  He grabs the swordsman by the shoulder.  ”Gus, yer with me.  Judoc yer with Magnus.  You two, over there.”


OOC:
Good to know Gustav, lol.  Luckily I made my Self Control roll.

Hands are empty so I can fiddle with the tiles.

My plan is this.  Everyone has a combat buddy.  Me and Gus, Judoc and Magnus, Rondald and Terri.  The 3 teams will begin a few hexes apart.  This way if its a baddie and it has some kind of AoE attack (spell, cloud, cone, trample) it wont affect most of the group.  Once we know what we're facing the mages will decide what spells to use.   I'm thinking about buffing Gustav.  Judoc might want to buff Magnus.  Remember to use Retreat bonus when defending.

Pick the door Judoc suggested.  Try combinations of 2 tiles until we find a set that works.

OOC:  Happy to be back a ways, using the crossbow. Perhaps 20 ft back.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:03, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

Sending Magnus and Judoc a several feet to the right of the doors and Rondald and Terri several feet back, Finn assesses the plan, the geometry, trying to mitigate the possibility that all of them will be injured or incapacitated at once.  Immediately happy with his plan, Finn drops down and places the tiles on the floor, organizing them in a row so that he can be sure to remember which combinations he has tried and which he has not.

Mathematicians in the cultural centers of the world such as Megalos or Tredroy had made a study of permutations and combinations... that is, given a finite number of choices (6 total tiles), and a finite set (2, 4, or 6 tiles respectively), how many different outcomes were possible, and what probabilities existed for each outcome.  In their current situation, perhaps one of these scholars could have told Finn that there were 13 possible combinations and that each had a likelihood just under 8% of being correct.  Of course, they would remind Finn, it was dependent on the assumption that it was unimportant how the key was constructed - which animal was placed on which side of the key.  A professional dungeon delver may have just reminded Finn that at best he had a 92% chance of getting the key wrong and that choosing incorrectly often had consequences...

Of course, none of this was on Finn's mind as he started with the first key in his row, that of the bear, which had been on the top of his stack, and the bull which creates a new image of the bull slashing his horn into the bear's side as the latter swats a massive paw down on the bull's flank.

Finn looks at the key for a moment, taking a deep breath, before standing and placing the key in the small inset next to the door.

Nothing.

Thinking little of the hiccup, Finn merely breaks the two apart, replacing the bull with the eagle and has another go.

Nothing.

Eight more combinations Finn tries, each time snapping apart the unsuccessful tile combination and replacing it with a fresh one, going through every combination of bear and bull before moving on to the eagle.  When finally Finn places the Eagle and Owl together, and presses the two into the inset, finally something happens.  The crease in the doorway seems to expand before the doorway swings open, pushing outwards slowly into the others.

"Get ready!"  Finn shouts, stumbling over himself to get back into a reasonable fighting stance, quickly putting the tiles back on the ground as he hastens to pull his sword free from his belt.

Nothing.

It takes a moment to truly realize it, but when nothing bursts free from the cell, Finn slowly makes his way towards the doors, taking tentative steps to keep from inadvertently springing some sort of trap or ambush.  But as he pushes the doors more widely open it becomes clear that there is nothing, not treasure nor demon locked in this cell.  Instead, it is entirely empty.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:26, Fri 21 Feb 2020.

Rondald is no mathematician. He is a soldier, and right now he is on guard against trouble with his crossbow. No trouble is to be seen, but that should never be an excuse to lower ones guard. So he waits and watches...
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:47, Thu 20 Feb 2020.

Magnus could have laughed had the situation not been so serious. His imagination had run wild with the possibility of what lay behind the ancient door, and here it was opened at last to reveal...nothing.

"Do you...see anything?" Magnus asked the group, and looked around at the larger chamber to see if anything else had occured.

One hopes that whatever was entombed was not invisible...

As he looks about for any movement with sword & shield Ready.

Finn busies himself with his work, careful not to rush too much.  While he is relatively young he is wise enough to know that most plans which are undone by mistakes happen when the planner rushes.  Usually due to an abundance of impatience that almost always is driven by fear or greed.

The leader places the tiles carefully arranged neatly on the floor so that he can keep track of which combinations he's tried.  One pairing after another is tested.  All the while Finn's smile is so wide that not much more than lips and teeth can be seen.

And then he is rewarded with a magical event of the door cracking open.  A high pitched sort of giggle breaks the small quiet and had it not come from the area of the door some might have thought it to be Terri.  Finn squeaks out, ”I'm better than you ya dirty fucker.”

Razzel pulls at the door to gain entrance, hops back, unsheathes his new shiny weapon and waits.  And waits.  Surely its a matter of a handful of heartbeats but to Finn it feels like an eternity.  Finally convinced no horrors are going to exit and try to rip his face off he creeps back to the door and then inside.  Moments later the normally plucky mage-thief crosses the threshold of the doorway.  His arms hang limply by his side.  His jaw has fallen as far as it can go leaving his mouth so wide open Magnus might think he could fit his head inside.  Finn stares blankly at nothing, in utter shock.

As his friends begin to speak it is the nudge Finn needs to bring him out of his stun.  ”Nothin' “. he answers the minotaur, his voice full of sorrow.  Next as Gustav makes his bright observation Finn quickly snaps his fingers.  ”Judoc...”.  He points with two fingers to his eyes and then inside the seemingly empty cell.


OOC:
Sorry folks, it wouldn't occur to Finn that trying the wrong set of tiles might incur some kind of bad consequence.  Maybe it'll dawn on him in the future, but not now.

I wrote the narrative for flavor but if extra explanation is needed Finn is asking Judoc to use his talents to see the invisible.  Just to make sure the cell was indeed empty.

This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:59, Sat 22 Feb 2020.

Finn gestures with his hands to Judoc, though the mage simply shakes his head...  Even with the mask they had earned from the Necromancer's tower, he had no way of finding the invisible.

Finn and Judoc walk their way inside, tentatively stepping just over the threshold for a full view of the room.  It is of the same black, slick and reflective stone of the chamber outside.  The room is wide, a sort of trapezoid that is wider on the far side, twenty five feet or so deep and perhaps twice as far across.

Still mistrusting, the two stay near to the entrance, listening and watching for anything that might give them a clue as to what purpose this chamber had served be it shadow or faint buzz of invisible energy...

OOC:  Still nothing to speak of.  If you guys want to search the whole room, feel free to make a perception roll which may or may not be modified.  Also, let me know where you want to go from here.  OOC is fine just in case you do happen to discover something in the room.

Not trusting things, Rondald stays on guard...
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:17, Sun 23 Feb 2020.

Finn steps into the room cautiously.  His mind runs wild with possible explanations of why the black chamber appears empty and how to handle it, each one crazier than the one before.  Razzel is about to prance towards the center when caution grips him.

Instead he steps backwards and utters a pair of words stoically.  ”Close it.”


OOC:
Take myself and Judoc from the room, close the door and if they are still in place remove the tiles.  My aim is to lock the cell closed.

I will take the discussion to the OOC thread.

Frustrated by the empty cell, and too nervous or impatient to explore much beyond what can be seen by sight, Finn directs for the cell to be closed.  It proves to be only little more complicated than anticipated, for as the doors can be shut by pushing them closed, they still do not 'lock' into place.  Instead, the wide gap remains at the meeting of the two doors until the eagle and owl keys are placed into the inset again, fitting the doors together as a near perfect match as the seam narrows down to almost nothing.

"On to the next one then?"  Judoc offers, pointing towards the next cell in line, the one between the empty cell and that of the T-Rex.

No one has any better ideas, so Finn goes about setting his keys in place again, setting aside the Eagle-Owl combination (for certainly it wouldn't be the same key to all the cells?) but keeping the eagle tile to try with some of the others.  This time, Finn manages success on the third try, with the Eagle-Fox combination clicking into the inset, as the seam in the doors widens slightly.  Pulling the doors open, Finn peers within, anxious to find something other than another empty cell.

For better or worse, he is obliged.

Finn and Gustav with a straight line view to the back right corner, see a massive crystal propped on an iron stand all the way in the back.  The thing is ludicrously large, bigger in height even than Magnus, and as wide around as Finn is tall.

As for Magnus and Judoc, the two see all the way into the back left corner, giving perhaps a slightly more pessimistic view.  For in the corner, hanging from the ceiling is a six foot large paper construction, looking something like a massive wasps nest though the whole of it is dripping with a thick, red fluid.  Crawling around the back of the nest, Magnus can just make out a thin, spindly arm, gripping on to the red paper side.

Rondald and Terri of course, have the best view of the center of the room and they stand transfixed for a moment as the doors are pulled open.  For hovering mid-air is a horrid, beastly insect the size of a crow with a set of four bat-like wings and a stinger of sorts both on it's head as well as protruding from its abdomen.  Worse yet, Rondald thinks he can just make out humanoid characteristics of the thing, a five fingered hand with an opposable thumb... facial features and a reddish, mottled skin that clings tightly all about the monsters body.

Only a moment passes, but from a standstill the wings of the monster start beating, fluttering faster to full speed such that the insect-man is now hovering, emitting a thin, tinny buzz, his eyes peeled directly on Rondald.

OOC:  Map posted below.  Though the picture below may look like a Stirge (which it is supposed to be), that is not exactly what the monster looks like.  None of your characters would have likely seen a stirge anyway to this point in their lives (nor likely heard of one).  Everyone has their choice of Melee weapon and/or shield readied with the exception of Finn who is empty handed (to open the door) and Rondald, who has his crossbow loaded and readied.  The monster is in the middle of the cell, 30 feet or 10 hexes away from Rondald.

One second worth of action please.  Everyone do me a favor and roll vs. perception (hearing), and HT as well as a just in case.




Flying Monster


Massive crystal in the corner

He hears the buzz and brings shield up and the sword ready to strike ... he'll swing if something exits the doors.

Magnus felt that worrisome voice in his head grow quiet as the massive doors yawned open. He caught a splash of red, there was a curious smell, and then the surprisingly loud buzzing of whatever was moving within.

He stepped up online with Judoc with his shield raised and his mace, tethered as usual, low and to his side. The time had come.

Finn must be getting the hang of this since it takes him far fewer tries with this door all the while his mind is a blur with wondrous imaginings of what lies within.  What treasures of old are to be theirs?  Or what horrors?  And it doesn't take long to find out.

His stomach turns at the sight at the half man – half bug thing.  Some might confuse Razzel's unsinkable bravado for an insane level of arrogance or delusional denial.  Not so.  Currently Finn is terrified.  Nearly shaking in his shoes.  Not the sort of cowardly terror, but a healthy amount given the weirdness of their predicament.

Finn reaches out a hand and mumbles a few words in some ancient tongue.  Gibberish to any but Judoc.


OOC:
Cast spell and touch Gustav.

Rondald aims carefully at the creature, before releasing the crossbow bolt at it. He is not sure what it is, but pretty certain it is not friendly!

"I wonder if that paper burns..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:55, Wed 26 Feb 2020.

The six gird themselves for battle, waiting to see if the things charge...  Only Rondald, the one man with a ranged weapon, raises it in aim, his finger pressuring the trigger as he lines the sights up on the flying imp.

Twang!

The crossbow string surges forward, launching the bolt into the empty space ahead...  Empty indeed, for the little flying bat-insect has entirely disappeared.

Smash.  The bolt crackles into the black glass wall at the end of the cell, shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Good thought."  Judoc responds to Rondald's comment, summoning a lemon-sized ball of flame into his hand and waiting for a moment before hurling it at the enormous nest.  The throw is straight as an arrow, connecting with the center of mass of the giant, red construct and the thing immediately bursts into flames!  Over the sound of the building, crackling fire, a thin, tinny voice can be heard screaming, which echoes off the walls of the chamber such that it sounds like a chorus of hate.

Though with the nest burning, it becomes apparent that now none of them can see any of the little beasts...  an odd position given that there was one just flying at the center of the room...



OOC:  Some characters posted a little more than a second, which I went with but it makes this next post a little bit weird.  That puts us a little bit into the next series of actions as some of the decisions were independent of the little bastard disappearing.  Rondald fired off his crossbow bolt (He spent his first second aiming and his shot missed prior to the thing going away) which is Rondald's first second of his next post.  Judoc likewise aimed and then threw his fireball, which puts him two seconds into his next series of actions.  Everyone else, give me three seconds.  I'm tempted to keep moving until the next real action happens, but I wanted to give Finn/Judoc an opportunity to buff, etc. if it was desired.  Thanks for those that have rolled vs. hearing and HT, if you missed it on the last post, one more chance here before I do it for you.

Magnus narrowed his eyes and looked all around, his pointed ears twitching this way and that as the all seemed to hold their collective breath.

Inwardly he was once again rebuking himself for not buying a damn helmet, and promised himself that he would make it happen if they made it out of this.

He kept his mace (he now thought of it as his mace after it had been discussed with the others) cocked back on his right shoulder, ready to lash out and seat down anything airborne should it suddenly appear, or fly out from the vault.

Likewise, Gustav stands, on edge, ready to swing, but sees nothing .  He listens closely for the buzz and where it might be.

Finn watched as the little bird sized daemon bug vanished into thin air.  Had he not been where he was and seen and heard all the oddities he's witnessed over the past few months he would be shocked.  Maybe even flummoxed.  Or dumbfounded.  But as it is he merely smirks with an annoyed expression.

His mind tells him to watch the paper nest like structure for fore warnings on an attack but he cannot help that his gaze drifts to the seductive call of the huge crystal.  What is it, he wonders and how much is it worth?


OOC:
Take my bow off my back and begin to load an arrow.  No spells at this time.

Dropping his bow after the shot, Rondald readies his axe and shield...listening intently.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:50, Thu 27 Feb 2020.

A moment of rather tense moment of relative silence begins, broken only by Rondald dropping his heavy crossbow to his strap, letting the weapon swing back below his right side.

Finn too, decides to bring a different weapon to bear, gripping the leather hold of his bow off his chest, flipping it up and grabbing it as it falls, reaching back to his quiver to bring an arrow to bear.

The rest though... remain entirely silent, waiting for the hum of beating wings (which seem to echo everywhere) to come close enough to attempt an attack of some sort...

"Ow!"  Terri starts, her one good hand swatting her knife up and over her shoulder uselessly, the movement impulsive at first, though it slows to an imprecise and sluggish finish.

Rondald's eyes dart to his wife, his shield gripped in his right hand as he thrusts his left through the arm straps... he had thought he had heard something close, though he had not expected it to bypass him for her.

"Shii..."  The word doesn't even finish out of Terri's mouth before she sinks to her knees, then face first to the floor, her eyes completely blank.

"What the...?"  Judoc growls, pulling his attention off of the blazing inferno of the hive only to watch his comrade sink to the ground.

Slowly, one of the small insect birds materializes from nothing on Terri's shoulder, its thin needle-like beak submerged in her neck, its rancid, pallid flesh suddenly flushed with her lifeblood.

Suddenly, another lemon-sized ball of flame appears just above Judoc's fingers...

OOC:  No change to the map above.  Finn has his bow readied in his left hand and is reaching back into his quiver to ready an arrow.  He will be ready to shoot in 2 more seconds (first turn ready bow second turn shoot or aim).  Rondald has dropped his crossbow (onto the sling) and has grabbed his shield off his back, which is 1/2 ready on his left arm.  One more second and the shield will be ready, your axe will take one more second to grab.  Terri has fallen to her side and seems to be either unconscious or disabled.

Let's do 2 seconds of action this time

Magnus shifted his weight from hoof to hoof as he waited, and watched, and listened.

When Terri fell the Minotaur struggled to keep his attention on their surroundings, difficult as it was, then suddenly lashed out to his left with the mace.

How he was going to hit a Target so small, that he could not see, he had no idea. Even if he did he did not know what good it would do, and had to trust to the arcane powers crafted into the ancient weapon to do their work.

Gustav realizes what has happened and immediately goes to push the doors closed Quickly before we have many to fight!

If it wasn't clear why all the trouble from how difficult the cells were to open it should be abundantly clear when Terri falls to the ground motionless and a small grotesque bug thing appears on her neck.  There is a reason why the elves of old made the opening of their vaults such a chore.   A normal man would reconsider his decision to go treasure hunting through centuries old and unknown horrors, but Finn isn't normal.

At first he leans towards the pair of doors but seeing that Gustav has the same idea he instead spins on his heels to make for the fallen woman.


OOC:
Drop everything in my hands.  Run to Terri.  Attempt to grab at the deamon bug thing.

As the new fireball materializes in his hand, Judoc scans the area, looking for more of the strangely humanoid bug creatures. He wonders how intelligent they may be, and if their faces are indications of their sapience. The mage is reasonably sure that the curious structure covered in the red liquid is their nest.

Heaving the fireball at the structure, he steps toward Terri and holds out his staff, murmuring words of power as he does so.

OOC: Throw the fireball at the nest. Then step one space toward Terri.

Judoc hurls his ball of flame forward, intending to do more damage to the red nest, though his flame misses some feet off to the left this time, busting into a puff of smoke.  However, it seems that the miss has made little difference in the long run, for the nest is now entirely engulfed in flames which lick upwards towards the ceiling, spewing thin wisps of black smoke which curl outwards along the glossy black roof.

Meanwhile, Gustav places his buckler low and thrusts his shoulder forward, slamming himself into the heavy door.  The thing moves but slowly and Gustaf has to hurl his body forward with another surge of momentum before the thing truly starts moving closed.

Meanwhile, Finn makes all his effort towards Terri, dropping his bow to the ground with a clatter before reaching out in an attempt to grab the little imp, though his aim is off, all of his adrenaline preventing him from making a refined grab.

And as he misses, Finn is horrified as another of the little bastards appears, seemingly from out of thin air, upon Terri's shoulder.  His thin, needle like beak thrust into her neck as well...

With a crash, Rondald sags to the ground, his hand just barely having gripped upon the bands of his shield.  Like a stone, Rondald plunges face first into the glossy black floor, completely unconscious.

Magnus however, has seemed to figure out his own peril before it comes... Without having seen the thing, he swats out haphazardly with his mace, apparently hitting nothing...  He feels a slight pinch at his cheek, and though he knows his skin is much tougher than most, the sudden collapse of two of his companions has the minotaur nervous...  And indeed, it takes just a second and he feels a surge of dysphoria, a spreading numbness from his cheek that floods his head and his body like a piercing fog which seems to inhibit his thoughts and movements...

Judoc notices the odd movements of the minotaur as he steps to the side, placing his staff onto Terri's side to cast a healing spell... he notices another of the things appearing on Rondald's unconscious form, its body ripening from pale to pink as it sucks on the sailor's lifeblood.

OOC:  I figured getting something up was better at this point than making things pretty.  Map is below.  Rondald and Terri are both unconscious now.  Magnus is at -3 to DX and IQ for the duration of the poison effect.  There are now 2 of the things latched on to Terri, one on Rondald, and presumably another one somewhere around Magnus.  By the way, what Finn saw was a slow loss of translucence... like a fade from nothing to substance.  There is obviously magic to these creatures, and Judoc would describe what they are doing as invisibility.

2 more rounds of action please.

Gustav keeps pushing until the doors close, then turns with sword and shield up (he's been pushing with them in his hands, as he never put them down be fore applying himself to the door). They seem to attack the neck... he is as aware as he can be, hoping to drag the edge of his blade across one ...  he moves his blade so that anything near his neck has some chance of being cut.

Magnus thrashed about as he realized what was occurring. The mace fell upon its lanyard, as the Minotaur remembered all too well what had occurred the last time he had attempted to wield it like a scalpel instead of what it was, a weapon of war.

Wildly he grasped at his face with his gloved hand, groping, trying to grab, crush, or otherwise deter his invisible attacker. A low sound of frustration bellowed out as his nostrils flared, and his wide eyes could not help but see what was happening to his friends.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:33, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

Finn is known for being an idea man, and thats just fine by him because people tend to overlook his many, many other talents.  Perhaps his most proud moment in creative solutions was when he came upon a tip that a wealthy collector was in possession of some religious artifact, a cup from Saint Something-or-other and this particular cup was coveted by another rich collector.  Razzel knew that the owners security was mad tight.  Chances were slim at best of getting in, grabbing the cup and getting out without being pinched.  So did he give up?  Never.  He let himself get caught.  That's right.  Finn snuck in, grabbed the cup and then let himself get caught.  And everything else played out as planned.  The master of arms called for the watch.  The sergeant of the watch patrol promptly returned the cup and dragged Finn off in irons.  Or, so it looked on the surface.  What no one knew except for Finn and his accomplices was that the cup which was returned to the master at arms was a fake.  Finn was hiding the real cup in his pants which he pilfered before he was nabbed.  And the watch patrol were none other than associates of his who promptly, armed to the teeth, escorted him to their buyer and not to prison.

Finn's true gift is not coming up with creative solutions but eliminating bad ones.  By instinct and without much conscious thought the plucky agent of the Row crosses several poor options from his list of choices.  Left with the most obvious his fingers begin to twitch as he mumbles a few strange words words in some long forgotten language.


OOC:
Cast a spell.  Try to grab the nearest deamon bug with both hands.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

It is only a moment gone in the fight and the six that had once stood to open the chamber of Perdition have been whittled down to four without so much as a single hit being made on the tiny beasts...  Gustav slams the near door closed, rushing over to the other door in case there are more of the bastards still to make their way out, he puts his shoulder against the massive black portal and slowly the thing begins to move...

Letting his mace drop to the strap, Magnus grabs over his shoulder twice, reaching for the little bastard that stung him on his exposed skin.  Twice he misses the thing and he can feel the little whelp drop onto his shoulder with another jabbing tweak that sticks him right in the neck!  Looking back, Magnus watches the little beast fade into existence while perched up on his shoulder, it's needle like beak poised for another strike!

Finn meanwhile, takes a moment for casting, putting a magical sheet of armor around his body that, with any luck (something Finn is not known for), will make him impervious to the little beasts.  He conjures the mana around successfully, though as the moment passes, he watches the color drain from Terri in a wave starts near her neck.  His buffer complete, Finn reaches again for one of the little bastards, but they are just too small, and he only manages to slide his hands along the side of one of them, grabbing nothing when he finally closes his hand.

Judoc however, his face betraying his doubt and anger, is not to be foiled by the small size of the mutants.  He extends his staff at Terri, rather than the little beasts, touching her again as he did when he had been healing.  This time, however, that is not his intent.

"Forma Ignis!"  Judoc shouts as his staff sparks against Terri's skin with unbridled energy, a spark large enough that it sets her entire body aflame!  Immediately the smell of burn and char fills the air along with the inhuman shrieks of the two tiny creatures.

Finn has to jump backwards to avoid the blaze, though Terri, the center of the fire itself, seems to be no worse for wear for it's effects...

Judoc on the other hand seems to be immediately exhausted, his forehead pale and sweating with driblets of blood running from one of his nostrils as his eyes strain to keep focus on the fight.

Meanwhile another of the little imps appears on Rondald's shoulder, it's beak submerged in the sailor, drinking deeply from his lifeblood.

OOC:  Sorry, no map again this time.  Not sure if the body of flame spell would have ever crossed Judoc's player's mind, but to me it seems like something Judoc would do.  Terri has essentially been transformed into a living fireball, completely engulfing the two Haemovorids (you can't make this shit up) that are making a meal out of her.  Two are now also on Rondald (one hex away from Finn), both of which are feeding.  Magnus also has one of them on his shoulder, though that one hasn't seemed to be as successful in taking a bite...  It will take Gustav one more second to close the last door (the one on the right).

Lets do another two seconds worth of action.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:46, Sat 07 Mar 2020.

Gustav keeps pushing, when closed, he turns and steps away from the door/wall so he can move his sword about his neck and shoulders. He heads toward Rondald.
I will not allow one of these beasts  to suck my blood, the salle taught me better than to succumb easily He thinks

Razzel exhales hard.  Tiny daemon bugs.  Well, not tiny.  Bird sized which for bugs is colossal.

There are nightmares that go like this.  Poisonous flying bugs the size of birds, that can disappear from plain sight, swarm you, drop you like a sack of dirt and suck the life force from you.  Except this isnt a dream.  Why in Gods name were these things created?  An weapon to send against another nation as Haj Umr so desired?  Or defense of such a foreign tower?  Some sick joke?  Or something else?  Whatever the reason Finn was beginning to understand why the elves of old locked these monsters away.

Spinning on his heels he turns to Rondald and does his best to aid the sailor.


OOC:
Try to grab the nearest deamon bug (on Rondald) with both hands.

The Rift, the Banestorm is common knowledge right?

There was nothing dignified about the Minotaurs frantic attempts to save himself from whatever poison these Demon bugs could bring to bear. The others had dropped in what had seemed like seconds and be was fighting for his life and theirs.

He spun in half a circle as he tried grasping over his shoulder, like a dog trying to catch his tail, before in frustration and having finally caught sight of the thing on his shoulder, he suddenly hurled himself backwards in an attempt to crush the thing beneath his bulk.

In his mind, it would either need to take flight and readjust, or perish messily.

As a bonus he felt like a had a slightly charred barn door strapped to his left arm, and this he brought up to cover his head as he waited, and listened for any sign that the insect had survived.

Somewhere he could smell burning and the sounds of frantic combat came to him under the bulwark.

Once Gustav had closed the second door, still leaving a wide seam between the two of them though it seemed small enough so that no more of the blood-sucking wretches could fit through, he swatted his sword around his head and face, frantically trying to protect himself from any more of the little bastards.

Indeed, frantic was the right word for the moment for just a few feet away Magnus was attempting to squash the little bastard on his shoulder by throwing his weight down on top of it.  His actions are sluggish though, his movements inhibited by whatever poison the things had infected him with.  His body does not seem to cooperate in time, and as he feels another pinch just at his neck that doesn't seem to pierce the skin before he flops himself back, the monstrosity lifting itself from his shoulder as Magnus falls hard to the glossy black floor with a jarring impact that jangles his steel shirt.  Recognizing the monster has gone for the moment, Magnus lifts his shield over his head to protect himself as he struggles to manage his debilitated state.

Just a few feet over, Finn moves over to Rondald, snatching out at one of the two little monsters with their straw-like beaks thrust into his flesh.  Finn misses his first grab, though with his second attempt he managed to grip the thing's body between both hands, ripping its beak out of Rondald's neck with a thin spurt of blood before the thing begins to writhe spastically in Finn's grasp.

Judoc, exhausted, turns to find himself engaged with the creature that had just left Magnus, its tail thrust out before it as it dives ahead.  Judoc attempts to get his staff in the way, but the thing is just too small, and its barbed tail jabs Judoc in a bit of exposed flesh.  His hands sagging, Judoc turns his body, swatting out with his staff, though the blow goes high, missing the bug as he flutters higher up for another pass.

The smell of burn and char fills the air as Terri continues to smolder quietly.

OOC:  I'm the worst.  I've spent most of the day getting the last touches on our house together and putting the finishing touches on a TV table (basically the center unit of an entertainment center) that I'm building from scratch.  I'm trying to keep the story going at least.  Finn has one of Rondald's bugs grabbed in both hands, Magnus is supine with his shield over his head.  Gustav is still standing next to the right door of the cell, and can move towards Rondald next turn.  Judoc is exhuasted and is now facing off against on of the beasts.  There seem to be just three of the things total for now:  One in Finn's hands, one facing Judoc, and another one still feasting on Rondald's neck.

Let's do another two rounds of action.

Gustav, reasonably sure that nothing is buzzing close to him, steps forward and swings at the one hovering over Judoc.
Then turns and swings carefully at the one on Rondald with the flat of the sword.

Magnus was fairly sure that he had not killed the thing as he impacted into the ground with a grunt. However, he was still in the fight, for what it was worth.

Slowly he exerted enough effort to sit up, then rolled onto one knee, the sheer weight of his armor making the motions difficult. He tried to control his breathing as he did so, watching and listening for any sign of his previous attacker.

Out of the corner of his eye Finn assessed the danger.  The big Minotaur has fallen adding to their ranks succumbed to the potent poison.  Judoc is wobbling on his feet either through excessive spell casting or being stung, or both.  Only Gustav and himself are left in good shape and thank the heavens the swordsman has gotten the doors closed.  The question of the day is, how many of these unseen nightmare bugs are flying around the room looking for a spot to land?

Not stopping to ponder the answer Razzel snatches his knife from his belt.

Though Magnus is not out of the fight, he makes the third of the small party of six on the ground...  he rolls back to a knee, searching over his shoulder to find one of the vexing little creatures if he can.

Gustav however, has taken the fight into his own hands.  Certain now that there are none of the things circling his own head, he steps forward, his sword ready to attack the beast that is threatening Judoc.

The little imp moves quickly too, jabbing its needle like beak as it dives forward right past Judoc's hurriedly swung staff.  The imp makes contact, plunging its beak into Judoc's flesh and making the mage stagger, though Gustav strikes as soon as the thing stops moving.  The black sword cuts forward, slicing just high of Judoc's shoulder in a stab that saws the beast near entirely in half.  His body hangs limp by its face, half of it flopping wildly by a thin strand of flesh holding it together.

Gustav feels the joy of the strike surging up his arm, propelling him forward as he continues to step ahead towards where Rondald is laying unconscious.

Finn too, seems to be making more progress.  With a firm grip on another of the beasts, he grabs his knife in the flick of a wrist.  Though the little thing writhes and wriggles, it is simply too small to make much headway against the much larger Finn.  Finn finds that is nearly unimpeded as he lines his blade up against the things neck, slashing it viciously as the thing screeches then gurgles its hatred, finally falling limp as it bleeds freely all over Finn's hand and knife.

With but another step, Gustav swipes his blade again, this time with the flat so that even if he cuts straight through the beast, he still will not harm his friend.  The black sword lands with a crushing blow on the back of the monster's head causing the thing to go limp immediately...  from there, it is a small task to rip the thing from the side of Rondald's neck and crush it under his boot.

It takes a moment to reassure themselves that Judoc's heavy breathing is not indeed hiding the buzzing sweep of more of the little flying beasts.  Though after several moments of hastily throwing their heads in all directions to look and listen, they finally convince themselves that there are none of them left, at least outside of the cell.  Judoc tumbles down to a wall, his breath coming in great gasps.

It takes another several seconds, but eventually Terri returns to her normal state with no trace of the two imps that had attacked her in the first place.

OOC:  A little over two seconds there, but as Gustav had already made his next roll, and rolled a critical success, I figured we may has well just end the fight there.  As a reminder, the cell doors are closed (though not 'locked').  Rondald is still unconscious and exceedingly pale.  Terri is unconscious as well, though she does not seem as rough as her husband.

I have only an alchemical antidote remaining, but perhaps it will fight whatever toxins hey injected ...

He recovers the bottle from his pack and wets a bandage with it, wetting Rondalds tongue with it, then Terri's and finally Judocs...
You want to try a little Magnus?
There is only perhaps a fingers width left in the bottle.

For the second time this trip, and the second time in his life for that matter, Magnus had found himself more or less useless against powers beyond his comprehension.

They were all (after an urgent check on those that had fallen) alive. That he was grateful for, and he thanked almighty God and the cool heads of his friends for that. But he also felt more than a little frustrated, guilty, and down on himself. He could have done more, somehow, he believed.  He had not even managed to touch one, and had been forced to basically hide under his shield at one point. It irked him.

But it was also motivation to keep training.

"Sure, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the doors, you may have saved us on this one." he said to Gustav and downed what little remained.

"I'm gonna buy a helmet, first thing I do when I get back." He said mostly to Finn, but in such a way to include the others. "That's gotta be the second, maybe third time I've missed one in a fight. Some smiths got to have the skill to make one that would fit me."

After he had calmed down a bit, he jerked his broad shaggy head towards the doors that Gustav had closed.

"What do you think? Call it and go?" he asked the group.

Blood from the trapped deamon bug abomination oozes from its wounds.  It thrashes and flails from the confines of his firm grip but it is all for naught.  As a guerrilla fighter with its bird like mass and invisibility it has won the battle but its small size and equally small constitution are no match for the giant strengths of Finn and Gustav, it has lost the war.

When Finn is certain the thing is dead, which takes a long moment since he's never seen anything like this nightmarish creature, he tosses it to the ground and mashes it under his heel as his head turns back and forth in search for signs of more.

At last it seems the first wave is dead.  Gustav is already on his knees unstopping a vial.  Finns head turns to their resident professional mage.  ”Judoc.  Judoc!  Is it poison?  Is there a chance 'a death?”

Razzel pays little mind to the big behemoth that is their wall of muscle as he reflects on missing one.  Finn who has been walking the room to check on his friends one by one with his expert medical skills pats the Minotaur on the shoulder.  ”Money is the grease that makes the world move my friend”, he says with a smile.

Then as Magnus suggests they 'call it' Finn almost chokes.  His eyes bulge wide.  ”Go??!!”  He looks around the room as if needing an explanation.   Then he settles in to answer the ridiculous suggestion.  ”Did you see the size 'a that rock?”


OOC:
EDIT:  Magnus posted before me after I wrote my post.  So I added the last bit to respond to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

Gustav spills a bit of the crystal clear liquid in Rondald and then Terri's mouth, offering a bit to Judoc and then Magnus in turn.  Judoc puts a hand up for a moment, apparently to decline, though he thinks better of it and swigs a small portion of the liquid before handing it back to the swordsman.

"Judoc.  Judoc!  Is it poison?  Is there a chance 'a death?"  Finn shouts at the mage as Judoc slumps against the wall.

"Eh."  Judoc shrugs noncommittally.  "It's definitely something.  Poison of some sort, probably, though I'm not much learned on that front.  I would think though, that if it were killing us it would hurt a lot more.  I just feel a bit fuzzy...  like I'm a bit numb all over or something...  And tired, though that's probably just from the casting."  He glances over at Magnus.  "How do you feel?  You'd think if anyone was spared from its effects it would be you and Rondald, big as you are."

Unsatisfied, Finn starts looking over Rondald and Terri for obvious signs of injury.  Terri seems fine, her breathing deep and her pulse a normal hum despite the state of her armor, singed and smoking, the leather burned away, black and curled in parts and her chest guard still hot to the touch.

Rondald however, seems to be significantly worse for wear.  His face is paled, his breathing shallow and erratic.  There's little doubt the big sailor needs healing, or perhaps some respite from the poison coursing through his veins.  Though if it is the latter, Finn does not know how to give it.

When the conversation turns to the cell and giving up or getting whatever it was within, Judoc turns his head up again.  "I don't think we want to fight any more of those...  I think I can tell by spellwork if there are any more of them in there... but if there are, I don't suggest we look to open it any time soon."

OOC:  Rondald and Terri do not wake up with the end of combat.  Terri seems ok, Rondald does not.  Magnus, you are still feeling the effects as well, a numb fogginess that seems to affect your movements and your thinking and you remain at -3 to DX and IQ.  Judoc is offering to cast Sense Foes in the cell, which should let him know if there are any more nefarious creatures there.  Feel free to keep roleplaying or just give me the long term plan.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:51, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

Yea, and with a chain Aventail attached methinks.


When Magnus asks if they should quit looking he adds Indeed, there is easier money to be had.

To Finn he responds, I did and all of us couldn't carry it out of here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

Magnus thought for a moment before he replied. "I feel sort of drunk, but not good drunk, just like my legs are wobbly and my face it numb" he said to Judoc before he prodded his cheek where he had been bit with one gloves finger.

"He gonna be ok?" He jerked his big shaggy head towards Rondaled. "Looks kind pale." he added more softly.

When the matter of going back in came up Magnus seemed hesitant. "That was pretty close Finn, you gotta admit it. Had there been even a couple more we might not be having this conversation."

By the time he asks Judoc for a take on the poison the plucky thief-mage is kneeling over the fallen ex-mariner.  One doesn't need to be a doctor to see something is very wrong.  Finn has been wishing for a time that Rondald would just shut the hell up and ironically he has gotten his wish.  But not like this.  Finn is serious, gone is his usual smile and bravado, he is genuinely worried for fallen warrior.  The Row agent listens to the rambling and Finn decides that it cant be that bad or the professional mage would be on the verge of a break down.  Still, Rondald isn't doing well so the poison must be serious on some level.

The ever optimist leader begins his short checklist beyond the obvious.  Is his skin cold and sweaty?  Are parts of his body turning a strange color?  And all the while listening to his comrades speak.

As often happens it doesn't take Finn long to decide on a course.  He turns to look at those who have the strength and seemingly the mind.  ”I'm gonna do what I can for Rondald.  I don't know if it's gonna help.  Cant hurt.  I ain't no country medicine man.  If Judoc cant wash this gut rot out it'll just have ta run it's course.  But when I'm done I'm gonna be weak as a baby.  Gus, Magnus, we need rest.  You're gonna have to git us back to camp.  Pronto.”

Still bent over the sailor Finn wiggles a few fingers and chants some strange gibberish.  Smiling a satisfied smile he slumps like a sack of flour and falls on his side like a drunk man looking for a place to sleep it off.  Then he rolls onto his back.

His speech is slow and a bit slurred.  He sighs heavily.  ”Well then.  The whole 'a the party's 'gainst me.  Even Judoc turned.  You aint no treasure seekers.  You're just errand boys.  Aint no point in continuin' then.  We'll call it.”


OOC:

Gustav Du Meseries:

In reply to Magnus (msg # 207):

Yea, and with a chain Aventail attached methinks.

I have no idea what that means.

What Finn is saying is that there is enough resistance to continue trying to finish off this cell, and there has been enough skepticism over all that Finn concedes to the “wow, we barely made it out of that situation” sentiment floating around.  He is throwing in the towel and saying we rest, divvy up the loot and go home.

Before we go back to camp lock the cell so it wont open.  Gather up the dead deamon bugs.  Someone somewhere might pay to examine them.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Fri 13 Mar 2020.

"Finn, we barely beat those things." Judoc's voice is tired, and he slumps down to the ground in a position of rest. "Terri and Rondald are out cold, Rondald needs healing, and I'm nearly spent. That doesn't mean I'm giving up, but we need to take a break." Concentrating, he murmurs a few words of a spell, and then leans his head against the wall.

"We should probably rest here. If we're attacked by another of those ghosts, we're not at full strength to fight it off."

OOC: Cast Sense Foes to see if any more enemies are inside the cell with the nest. Then rest.

"Well, maybe you'll find some real treasure seekers when you get back Finn. Some that won't disappoint you so much." Magnus liked Finn, he did. They were very different people, from very different worlds, and the mans vanity and ego contrasted harshly with the Minotaurs own more subdued countenance. But they had been through a lot together, and his boundless optimism and excitability had grown on Magnus of their time working together.

There was something about this last exchange however, that seemed to highlight that their time together was drawing to a close.

Maybe Finn would come back with some other group, or the Row, or whoever and start cracking open vaults. Maybe they would all become remarkably wealthy overnight. Who knew what was in these things?

Or maybe he might die alongside his new companions, never once believing that it was actually happening, when he finally pushed things too far. That thought spread a pang of sadness through his chest. He would never want any harm to come to any of his friends, but he did worry that without the likes of Judoc, Rondald, Gustav, Terri and himself to temper that headlong instinct, Finn just might get himself into real trouble.

God only knew.

"Good idea..." Magnus nodded to Judoc wearily, and spoke quietly. "I'll post first watch." And then turned to lumber off towards the doors.

Finn sends his magical energies into healing Rondald, which leaves him completely exhausted, though at least Rondald's pallid look is restored to something close to its normal color.  He slumps to the side, exhausted just as badly as Judoc is.

Though the four agree that it is probably not worth the risk to open the cell doors again, at least with Rondald and Terri still unconscious, Judoc cannot help but at least see if he can tell if there are more of the things just waiting.  After a moment of casting, Judoc sighs... "I don't think there are any of them left."

The conversation resurges, with Finn in particular voicing his opinion that they should at least go back in the room to take a look at the treasure once they are somewhere near full strength.  There are those who are against it, Gustav voices his own distrust... though after fifteen minutes of arguing back and forth they manage to come to a tired conclusion that they will give the room one more go...

Of course, that is if Terri and Rondald ever wake up.

Several times they are checked on, by Gustav at first and then by Judoc as he regains his energy.  Though their breathing is regular, and their heart beat seems normal, they continue to sleep past an hour... past an hour and a half.  By this time Judoc and Magnus both report that their symptoms seem to have abated, so hopefully sometime soon...

It is only after two hours have passed that Rondald stirs, his body in pain though he seems to have no lasting damage done.  He immediately works his way over to Terri, softly caressing her and speaking to her in whispering tones.  Despite his attentive care, it is another forty or fifty minutes before Terri too wakes.

"Let's get moving then!"  Finn says, barely waiting for Terri to prop herself on her one good elbow before he moves forward, ready to grab open the doors to search the inside of the cell.  Magnus and Gustav begin to protest, though with Judoc behind him, Finn pulls open the large black doors, peering his head just behind.

The nest, if it was such a thing, has been burned to char and ash, an amalgam of wafer thin burned paper that flutters and sheds a few flakes as the cell is opened to the room beyond.  A black smear of soot marks the ceiling in the corner, spreading out in thin, disappearing fingers towards the walls and middle of the room.  On the floor below, a thin puddle of solid red lays in the corner just below where the nest had been, catching the ashen flakes as they drift down from the burned paper above.

Finn has no eyes however, but for the massive crystal in the corner.  After a cursory check of the room around, he immediately walks towards the hulking mass, overwhelmed by its size and clarity.

"That is definitely magical."

The voice is Judoc's, though the information is not much needed by the thief.  He was still a few feet away from the thing when he knew it as well.  Of course, there is a small problem.

Gustav was likely right...  Judging by the size of its iron frame, which was about as thick as Finn's forearm, the thing weighed over a ton... possibly multiple tons.  Even with the combined strength of all their animals, there wasn't any way that sprung to mind to move it without a reinforced cart of some sort... which would have a tough time making it through the mountain passes...  Still, Finn's greed spurs his mind into overdrive trying to find ways to make some use of the stone...

Outside, Terri, now fully recovered investigates the little bloodsucking vermin at the end of her knife...

OOC:  We are on the precipice of finishing here, though I wanted to give you guys the chance to interact with the room.  The crystal weighs about as much as a juvenile elephant, so I'm having a hard time imagining ways for you guys to take it out...  that isn't to say it's impossible though.  I'll probably give myself one more post before allowing you guys the last word.

Gustav is on guard and alert to any noise ... in fact he is a bit jumpy given the last go round.

Rondald is exhausted, but greatly relieved when Terri comes round. He is still checking her when Finn reopens the door.

"You can't bloody well wait until we are at least standing, can you! Did you even check to see if there were any left?" he curses, readying his axe and shield and covering Terri's still prone form with his own...but that rest of the attacks don't come. [OOC: He was still out cold when you did the check, if I read it right, so he would not have known!]

After some time and no buzzing or attacks, he started to relax...a little. He then started to investigate what had come out of the hive.

"Well, you wanted to hide the keys in a rock. Here is a rock, now, show us how you can break it up if you want to take any home!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:52, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

Magnus looked at the massive crystal with a little apprehension. Not only was it obviously rare and valuable, but it was also apparently magical enough for Judoc to just know. He was a far cry from a Mage, but Judoc's reaction seemed to indicate that it was also powerful.

But...what could it do exactly? Was it inherently magical or had it been manipulated in some way? And more importantly, why had it been locked away when it was so difficult to move?

"So...what do we do with it?" he asked as he paced and looked at the remains of the nest.

The resting period seems to take forever.  With the pessimistic view point of his comrades following the short battle Finn had all but conceded that there would be no more fishing for gold, however, when Judoc works his magic and announces the vacancy of life from the black room Razzel's excitement returns immediately.

Though exhausted he is like a child.  He talks almost non stop for the hours that the group slowly regains their strength and wait for the bonded couple to rouse.  Several times Finn is told to 'Shut up', 'Shut up!!', and even 'Shut up or I'll shut you up' but the young fortune seeker cannot contain his giddiness over knowing what lays beyond the heavy black doors.   As he says during the painfully long rest even if they cannot take it with them seeing and touching such an artifact is a prize in and of itself.

When at last the pair awakens and Finn pries the doors apart he gives the required glance to the blood soaked hive.  Knife in hand he waits a few seconds for the sounds of buzzing and signs of the party being pricked.  As a precaution he waits, fingers twitching at the ready to cast a spell that hangs on his lips ready to leap forward.  But the attack does not come, Judoc's sagely advice once again is right on.  Finn will miss his unflappable reliability.

When at last the plucky mage-thief comes close enough to touch the thing he is stupefied.  In awe.  He does not seem to hear Rondalds comments but somehow Magnus's words get through the fog.  Finn half turns, half distracted.  He shrugs.  ”Dunno...”, he says smiling through.  He places his hand on the crystal running his fingers along it.  His eyes are glazed over, he is lost in some vision.  His voice is a dreamy sing song kind of thing.  ”Imagine who made this.  Their knowledge.  What power they must'a had ta get it here.  And 'chant it.  Oh lord.  To live in that time.  Wer seein' a peice 'a history here.  Few will ever be so lucky.”


OOC:
Of course Finn will examine the crystal to see if there is any way there is a chance to take some or all of it with us.  Finn will test to make sure its real and not an illusion.  Test to see if its like a puzzle – that it would come apart if pulled or turned in the right way.  He would look over the frame to see if there is some kind of key hole.  I assume all of this leads to nothing.

Finn would talk about different kinds of magic, none of it he knows.  But there are spells that can shrink such an object.  And of course there is magic to move things from place to place to bypass that nasty burden of carrying stuff over headaches like mountains and rivers.

Magnus stared at the crystal, that which they had risked life and limb for, and wondered at Finns words. It was obvious that the Minotaur had never benefited from any kind of extended education, although he was literate.

"My Dad used to say our kind weren't from here, that we were from a long way away, some other place. That's why you see so few of us." Magnus said, his eyes not leaving the Crystal. "Maybe there were more of us back then? Or none at all?" he shrugged slightly. "It does make you wonder though, what it was like." he added softly.

He looked around at the others. "I mean, it's got to be important right? But maybe dangerous too. Way beyond my ken, in any case."

He looked to Terri, Rondald, those who seemed to have suffered most during the last exchange. The thought of how close they had been, it bothered him.

"We're leavin in the morning then?" Magnus clarified with Finn. The Prison was secured, their enemies dead or fled, the keys in their possession. They had completed what they had set out to do and so much more, and although there would be a payday at the end of all this, and he had come away with a weapon beyond his wildest imagining, it had come at a cost. His mind was weary, and troubled at the dangers they had faced, and the sheer scale of the bloodshed.

He wanted a rest, somewhere safe, somewhere away from the bugs and the heat. Somewhere he could get his head on straight.

Gustav slowly calms down, as nothing appears, his guard relaxes a little, but he stays alert, too many surprises have occurred here not to be alert.

Rondald too is very cautious. Perhaps the last to lower his guard, he is not trusting his eyes so much to warn him of danger.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:16, Mon 16 Mar 2020.

At Rondald's protest about further enemies, Judoc replies, a bit testily, "Yes, I checked, Rondald. I picked up a few spells from Finn over the course of our adventure, including one to check for the presence of enemies, and I cast it while you were unconscious."

Drawn to the crystal, Judoc spends a moment looking at it with fascination. What had led the prison's keepers to store it here? What was its function?

The rest of the group, sans Finn, seem eager to leave Perdition, and Judoc understands this impulse. Defeating Mik'ail had been relatively straightforward, despite the rabbit chase the necromancer had led them on, but the prison's guardians seem more potent. Still, what knowledge lies hidden here? What wonders, what magics lost to time? A team of Templars would tear this place apart brick by brick. Judoc would far rather the prison's secrets be found by his group than Graves.

"I can see what spells are on this crystal, but the spell will take an hour to cast," he tells the group.

Gustav nods, Do so, best to know what it is. What affect it might have on a commoner like myself.

While the other seem to be taken in by the massive crystal in the corner, Magnus instead goes for the burned hive, looking for a moment at the ashen paper above, then pausing to look at the giant pool of red below.  As he touches the thick fluid with a finger, he realizes that it is not blood, but some sort of wax, hardened now that it is cooled, though undoubtedly it melted with the fire that was brought on with Judoc's spells.

A dozen feet away, Finn touches the crystal an odd barrier, almost translucent green, seems to spring up some five yards on each side of the crystal or at least those sides which are not obstructed by the black glass of the prison.  Finn gapes, open mouthed, looking to touch the outer edge of the barrier...  his hands pass through with no effort... but as he walks through he realizes he cannot take his knife with him...

Finn goes back to the giant crystal, pressing the face again, touching the other faces...  once he gets to the fifth side he sees the barrier disappear, and then on touching the sixth, he sees a different barrier, a soft, translucent purple take the place of the old.  Finn again tries to touch the thin, purple sphere, though his whole body passes through it, weapons and all without the slightest interference.

Back and forth Finn goes, trying to decipher what each face of the crystal does... it seems evident that the fifth face cancels all the others, though the specifics of the others he has a hard time recognizing.  One keeps any part of him from passing through, though allows his knife, another seems to do nothing... the last stops anything he attempts to push through it, whether it be himself or something on his person...

Judoc attempts to discern the spells cast on the crystal, his own attempt lengthy and detailed, requiring various rituals.  Though his best efforts seem to fail... for he seems to be able to offer little more than, "It seems to be some sort of protection... some sort of tool."

The point seems moot, as none in the group has any idea how to get the crystal out of the cell, let alone back out of the mountains and down to the fort.  Some hours later, they give up and lock the cell, lest anyone else find the contents and manage to remove it...

Without another cell opened, It is decided later that the group will depart in the morning and split what goods they have already acquired.

The worst of the conversation is what to do with the keys.  Rondald suggest splitting them between each of them (for there are conveniently six of them) to giving the keys to a local lord, though Finn is having nothing with the idea.  In the thief's mind, the whole point of the expedition was to find the treasure, to exploit it, and to take if for their own.  Throwing the keys away to someone else invited the cells to be opened on someone else's terms, while splitting them up seemed to infer that the cells should never be opened again... something that Finn seemed unable to accept.

At the end the fight got so escalated, Finn, completely red in the face declared "Fine!  I'll fucking bury them here!"  Muttering a simple spell, Finn removes six feet deep of earth from a small hole in the orchard before hurling the tiles down and replacing the earth with the gesture of his hand.

It is a fateful end for the group that had potentially saved humanity from a grizzly fate...

Still, the morning after, the group girded up and started their journey down from the mountain...  Their cities saved, at least for now.

OOC:  Some personal flourishes on the end of this story, so please don't blame Finn for burying the keys when there has been no further discussion.  He is the only other one with shape earth, so it's probably easiest for him to remove the tiles, though anyone else would be able to remove them after seeing where they are buried after a significant amount of work.  If anyone wants to prevent Finn doing this... tough luck.  You may stay back on your own if you wish, digging them up after everyone else leaves though.  Let me know if anyone else wants to do this.  I am keeping the thread open for people to post up their last remarks - please don't fast forward yourselves to anywhere significant.  Yes I plan on putting you where you asked, but there may be significant things along the way that happen which I would rather cover in my own time.

Gustav is in favor of burying them, so is happy with this outcome.

Rondald suggests planting a tree on top of them, and using magic if they have any to make it grow faster. At least it will be some disguise, as well as a marker...

The trip has been successful, and Terri and Rondald reflect on what has been accomplished, and what is coming up. The world is a dangerous place, and there are many evils to defend against, but they have shown that they are better to fight them together. Intending to use the mule to full effect carrying goods back, they would prefer to continue with some of their new friends, particularly Magnus, Giles, Gustav and the young mage Judoc, though concerns about Finns greed, which had nearly killed the couple, were voiced. But as a group, they were able, as Magnus pointed out, to help counter each others weaknesses, and that is what working as a group was all about.

The trip home would grant plenty of time to consider the future.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Tue 17 Mar 2020.

The applications for the crystal seem intriguing to Judoc. A device such as this would provide adequate protection for a castle's keep if the radius of the barrier could be extended. The crystal seems designed to prevent different objects from passing through the barrier it creates. Perhaps some of them protect against energy attacks as well. The massive size of the crystal is the only drawback, and a portable version would be extremely useful.

Ultimately, Judoc agrees with the decision to hide the keys. If only he had a writing utensil of some kind! At least then he could make a crude map of the keys' location. He instead contents himself with memorizing the location should Graves demand that Judoc return to the area and attempt to recover what the as-yet unopened cells hold.

"We didn't do too badly, did we?" he says thoughtfully, reflecting back over their accomplishments. That Bjorn had betrayed them and fled during the night still rankles somewhat, though Judoc can understand why the Northman did what he did. Treasure had never been Judoc's primary motivation during this endeavor, though he also understands how Finn's motivations would be different on that score.

"We stopped Haj and Mika'il's plan to unleash the horrors of Perdition and destroyed Sadda and its evil influence. We accomplished what we set out to do, and perhaps one day, we can return to this place to plumb its mysteries again."

Gustav essentially has no plans; he was escaping a powerful person's wrath, which this has done, but will there be someone waiting to knife him in the back when he returns to the fort or Craine?  He is in a quandary, but obviously having others he can trust around is a plus, so he will join Rondald and any others who want to stay together.  He does wish to improve his skills some and will obviously have to carry this broadsword instead of his saber around here. He will approach Judoc about scanning his sword for abilities.

As the journey home becomes more of a reality, and not just a goal to press on towards, Magnus has plenty of time to reflect on recent events.

It really had not been that long, but for him in particular it had been life changing. From the outset it had been different, he had taken his first life and seen his own flash before his eyes on their very first day together, and it had gotten progressively stranger and more dangerous ever since. He did not know how he was going to tell even half these stories, and he did not expect that any would believe them.

The pay was good, yes, and he would return to the Guild a far more seasoned member. But more importantly it had been the best group he had ever worked with by far. He had grown fond of them all, and not just because they tolerated his oddities. They truly seemed to think of him as a friend in kind, and not just a comrade in arms or a wall of meat and metal to put before them. He had known other good men and women, but not like them, never so many in one place.

He already knew he would miss them.

Aside from his personal feelings, on the more practical end he would be losing the legitimacy that they brought by their presence. Once again he would be the outsider, the wanderer, the beastman. It was back to the long hard road.

Also, he had grown fond of having not one but two mages in their company. The first he had ever known, he had a new found appreciation for how ever one could turn a band into a formidable army. The healing magic alone changed everything, and when you added the other arts atop that it was little wonder that their were so sought after by Generals, Kings and the wise.

They were at a crossroads, and while he suspected that at least some of them would meet again, he had no idea when, or how or if some might pass in their absence.

For now, he enjoyed their company while he could, and looked forward to the relative comforts of civilization.